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Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon (Glosserman 2006)
A serial killer is a serial killer is a serial killer is a serial killer.
We kill off this mini-series on serial killers with another meta satire film. Seemingly well intentioned, Behind the Mask wants to be better than it is. Our discussion moves into meta-meta commentary and stays there. How do you deconstruct tropes? How do you escape the binary of established systems /reactionary takes? Ultimately, this film serves as a lesson in how efforts to be transgressive can actually strengthen and re-inscribe the tropes and logics of dominant systems rather than challenge them.
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SPOILERS IN THIS EPISODE
Scream (Craven 1996)
Halloween (Carpenter 1980)
TOPIC INDEX – Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon (Glosserman 2006) (times are approximate)
0:30 – Introductions
2:00 – thus continues a mini-series on serial killers
2:45 – spoilers
4:00 – Movie discussion begins
4:00 – this episode dedicated to Marshall’s former student Sarah E.
8:00 – sociology moment: deconstruction
12:00 – this film’s efforts at deconstruction: the final girl
16:00 – compared to Scream (Craven 1996)
19:30 – emotional experience of the film
22:00 – reinforcing vs deconstructing tropes
23:30 – tropes
25:00 – horror media as a cultural release
30:45 – sexual assault
31:15 – omission of commentary
46:00 – how would we have changed the film
56:00 – grading the film using the Collective Nightmares Evolving Rubric of Social Responsibility
Related Episodes
Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (McNaughton 1985)
Funny Games (Haneke 1997)
Monster (Jenkins 2003)
Related Films
Scream (Craven 1996)
Credits
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• Marshall@collectivenightmares.com
• Laura@collectivenightmares.com
“Horror films are our collective nightmares.”
Episode 93
Keywords
horror, podcast, sociology, empathy, sexuality, deconstruction, final girl, sex equals death, postmodern, tropes, slasher, serial killer, problematize, race, suburbia, utopia, normalcy, damsel, deconstruction, reinscribe, satire, Scream, Craven, meta,