BEHIND THE MASK: THE RISE OF LESLIE VERNON was a hit for the most part (read Tyler’s review) and there is already talk of a sequel to Scott Glosserman’s film. Since this was a dark horror film that somewhat poked fun at the slasher genre’s rules, the thought of what the killer would be like in the sequel has me curious. When asked what would happen if a sequel was greenlit Screenwriter David J. Stieve told Icons of Fright,

“Obviously the focus of that or the metaphor involved there, as it happened with Nathan as an actor or Scott as a director, or me as a writer, it’s how do you handle that “freshman phenom/rookie of the year” type thing! That’s the symbolism at play; how does Leslie handle his success? And of course you have the whole genre-specific constructions and conventions of a horror sequel. There’s specific conventions involved with every killer that comes back. How the town reacts, who the people are that survive, and who fills what role coming around again…so there are all these very specific genre expectations for a sequel that are ripe for the picking but there’s obviously the metaphor of how does Leslie as the ‘artist’ handle his fame, does he handle it well, does he burn out too quick, keep himself in check, does he do it right? There’s a very rich soil to till from a storytelling standpoint.”

Molly Celaschi