Very cute love letter to slasher movies, but a weak slasher film on its own two legs
Premise: In a world where ALL of our cinematic psychos are real human beings, a film crew follows a slasher-in-training as he plans his killing spree and stalks his Final Girl. It has a predictable climax (you might have already guessed it), but the buildup is done with great wit and affection for the conventions of the genre making it hard to reject Leslie Vernon.
How it balances the story within a story is very well done. For the first 2/3rds of the film, we are watching a slasher film play out within a mockumentary. It has the perfect alibi to make a "paint by numbers" b-movie while admitting its unoriginality. What it does best is get sympathy from absurd characters and command respect for a genre its lampooning. These are very brave achievements. It also goes in deeper with its deconstruction of slasher films than Scream ever did, but it lacks its contemporary's strong base as a horror film of its own. This film is funnier and more romantic than it is scary.
The last Act of the film is where things fall apart. We expect the generic slasher plot these wiser-than-usual characters manipulate the genre into something new and exciting. But instead the film becomes unrewarding and unexciting, especially compared to Acts 1 and 2, and its twist becomes apparent prematurely. As a horror film, Leslie Vernon kind of goes limp.
I still enjoyed myself with this one. The sheer ambition of this film makes it noteworthy, but the execution was rather mediocre. Its derivative and amateur, but what popular horror film isn't these days. Atleast this one has heart, bravery and the brains to make something a tad memorable. There are so many post-modern horror-comedies and tributes to the golden age of horror films and this is easily best one I've seen.
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