{"id":392585,"date":"2026-04-11T02:24:17","date_gmt":"2026-04-11T02:24:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/392585\/"},"modified":"2026-04-11T02:24:17","modified_gmt":"2026-04-11T02:24:17","slug":"leslie-vernon-interview-shelby-oaks-strategy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/392585\/","title":{"rendered":"Leslie Vernon Interview, ‘Shelby Oaks’ Strategy"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s been 20 years since \u201cBehind the Mask<\/a>: The Rise of Leslie Vernon\u201d carved out its uniquely beloved spot in slasher canon. Set inside a mockumentary<\/a> universe where killers like Michael Myers and Jason Voorhees aren\u2019t just real people but become twisted inspirations for newbie murderes in their \u201cfield,\u201d the meta-minded horror<\/a> franchise is finally going back into production \u2014\u00a0and not a moment too soon.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery once in a while we\u2019re on one of those \u2018movies you\u2019ve never seen that you should see\u2019 lists,\u201d director Scott Glosserman told IndieWire. \u201cOr those \u2018top 10 films that deserve a sequel\u2019 lists. We\u2019re on them.\u201d\u00a0That\u2019s not the kind of visibility that guarantees a sequel blockbuster success, but for Glosserman and screenwriter David J. Stieve, it\u2019s proof of something even more enduring<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"JAMES<\/a> \"DIE<\/a> <\/p>\n

\u201cWe can\u2019t totally quantify what or where out fanbase is,\u201d Glosserman said. \u201cBut we know that there are fans out there, and they\u2019re so, so behind us.\u201d<\/p>\n

That slow, word-of-mouth momentum is what willed \u201cBehind the Mask II: The Return of Leslie Vernon<\/a>\u201d into existence. Announced at a special screening of the original in Los Angeles at Alamo Drafthouse on Thursday, the upcoming film<\/a> has been talked about since the first got made. But the intervening decades have reshaped not just the filmmakers but the genre and audience they\u2019re returning to.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was super frustrating in the interim years because we knew we wanted to do it and we tried, and the fans were asking, and we wanted to deliver,\u201d Stieve said. \u201cBut everything that\u2019s happened in the last three or four years? We know it\u2019s happening at the right time.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cEverything we\u2019ve learned, and everything horror fans have grown up with since then, has a direct correlation in this new story,\u201d Glosserman said. \u201cThe metaphor just keeps blossoming.\u201d<\/p>\n

When the original \u201cBehind the Mask\u201d debuted at SXSW in 2006, its sly mythology \u2014 centering the origin story of its titular serial killer Leslie Vernon (Nathan Baesel)\u00a0 \u2014\u00a0 felt like an inside joke for horror obsessives living through a time when the genre was nearing an all-time low. Now, that same self-awareness has become the norm across the increasingly lucrative scary movie industry.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Glosserman pointed to a \u201ccyclical\u201d pattern that\u2019s played out in horror since its inception. From torture porn and J-horror in the 2000s to the current wave of self-referential work that made \u201cScream VI\u201d a studio tentpole, playing inside baseball is now essential to the slasher sport.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThat self-referential nature has permeated all genres,\u201d Glosserman said. \u201cWhether it was \u2018Tropic Thunder,\u2019 and then back to 2015\u2019s \u2018The Final Girls,\u2019 or even \u2018Wicked\u2019 today. Everything is self-referential.\u201d That shift, the director explained, has been both encouraging and creatively daunting. \u201cIt made the film\u2019s journey validating for us, but it\u2019s also incredibly challenging to figure out how to get back into a story that is by definition recursive.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

With the rest of the entertainment world fully caught up to the pioneering \u201cBehind the Mask,\u201d the promise of a\u00a0 new sequel feels less like a nostalgia play and more like an overdue update.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to come back and comment about all of it,\u201d Stieve said, citing everything from horror reboots to seemingly unrelated pop culture moments that echo the original film\u2019s DNA.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Glosserman even pointed to a familiar GEICO insurance commercial \u2014 featuring a masked killer who, much like Leslie Vernon, wears no shoes and overalls \u2014\u00a0as an example of how their cult film\u2019s visual language has seeped into the mainstream.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know how many people know about this movie or who it\u2019s influenced,\u201d the filmmaker said, \u201cbut something has absolutely happened in the zeitgeist.\u201d<\/p>\n

If the first movie deconstructed the rules of last century\u2019s slasher cinema, \u201cBehind the Mask II\u201d is poised to explore what those rules mean to modern fans who already know them by heart. Without revealing too much, Stieve suggested the sequel would focus less on rewriting the cat-and-mouse playbook and more on how their villain has adapted to it over the years.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The end of the original \u201cBehind the Mask\u201d sees a seemingly deceased Leslie Vernon rise off of an autopsy slab after being burned alive in a house fire. Asked if that stinger meant \u201cBehind the Mask II\u201d would veer more supernatural, Stieve played coy.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s more about preparation,\u201d he said. \u201cHow would Leslie approach how that appears?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

That continuity extends to the people bringing the sequel to life. Much of the original cast and crew are returning, including Baesel and Angela Goethals as a morally questionable journalist who becomes Leslie\u2019s ultimate final girl. Horror legend Robert Englund<\/a> (aka Freddy Krueger himself)\u00a0will also return as Doc Halloran, Leslie Vernon\u2019s \u201cShining\u201d-coded nemesis.\u00a0<\/p>\n

For Glosserman, making those phone calls was a surreal full-circle experience. Englund, he said, responded with immediate enthusiasm, and a characteristically irreverent sense of humor. Stieve recalled learning the news via text. \u201cScott just sent me a quote from Robert\u2019s email,\u201d he said. \u201cSomething along the lines of, \u2018Who did the guy playing Doug have to fuck to get such a great role?\u2019 And I immediately was like, \u2018That is Robert Englund\u2019s voice. We are so back.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Behind the scenes, the reunion has been equally enthusiastic. \u201cEveryone we\u2019ve talked to is in,\u201d Glosserman said. \u201cEvery single person.\u201d That includes collaborators who have gone on to major studio projects and still couldn\u2019t wait to come back for the low-budget sequel. Glosserman recalled telling one key crew member, \u201cI don\u2019t know what you\u2019re going to be doing in September, and we got to reduce your fee,\u201d before being cut off mid-sentence with another delighted \u201cyes.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe band is back together,\u201d Stieve added. \u201cIt\u2019s like a family reunion.\u201d<\/p>\n

That close-knit energy is part of what has sustained the property for so long. It\u2019s also shaping how the sequel will reach new audiences when it\u2019s finished. Rather than relying on traditional distribution, \u201cBehind the Mask II\u201d will embrace a more direct, grassroots approach.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re making this with the community,\u201d Glosserman said. \u201cWe\u2019re taking the best practices of the online creator community \u2014 how they build their audiences, how they build content through collaborations with their audience \u2014 and combining it with the best practices of the professional indie film world.\u201d <\/p>\n

They\u2019ll also be rolling out a Kickstarter campaign that brings fans directly into the fold through platforms like Substack and Discord, with theatrical distribution organized through Glosserman\u2019s company GATHR.\u00a0The sequel team also includes producers Aaron B. Koontz and Cameron Burns for Paper Street Pictures, which tried a similar hybrid strategy with YouTuber Chris Stuckmann\u2019s \u201cShelby Oaks\u201d last year<\/a>. <\/p>\n

The sequel is happening regardless of fundraising, but the filmmakers say this initiative allows the community that kept Leslie Vernon alive for 20 years to help design its future \u2014\u00a0while simultaneously building buzz for the release itself. \u201cUnlike a film whose destination is a sale at a festival,\u201d Glosserman explained, \u201cwe are building our audience so we can go directly to that audience with our release.\u201d It\u2019s a fitting approach for a film that owes its survival to horror fans in the first place.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cYou guys got us here,\u201d Stieve said. \u201cWe want to give it back.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even the film\u2019s setting reflects that sense of personal and communal connection. While the original movie was technically shot in Oregon, its setting is rooted in Glen Echo, Maryland \u2014\u00a0where Glosserman grew up. \u201cHow great is Glen Echo Park?\u201d he said, pointing to the area\u2019s eerie charm. \u201cWe really think about the details. Even the credit logo animation is a tribute to the Glen Echo carousel. It\u2019s all meta.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Glosserman and Stieve wouldn\u2019t say where they\u2019re shooting quite yet, but they\u2019ll start up this fall with only the most diehard \u201cBehind the Mask\u201d lovers in mind. Until then, the challenge isn\u2019t just bringing Leslie Vernon back to the big screen\u2026 but deciding what he\u2019s been waiting all this time to say.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s been 20 years since \u201cBehind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon\u201d carved out its uniquely beloved…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":392586,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[173895,173896,93,1043,61,1694,60,270,53374,1871],"class_list":{"0":"post-392585","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-movies","8":"tag-behind-the-mask","9":"tag-behind-the-mask-ii-the-return-of-leslie-vernon","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-film","12":"tag-ie","13":"tag-interviews","14":"tag-ireland","15":"tag-movies","16":"tag-robert-englund","17":"tag-shelby-oaks"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/392585","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=392585"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/392585\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/392586"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=392585"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=392585"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=392585"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}