Gathr'ing for 'Before the Mask'

Ask any serious horror fan, and they'll tell you that Behind the Mask: The Leslie Vernon Story never got the chance it deserved. Well, this week sees another opportunity for the unrecognized slasher classic to find a big screen audience – but only if you demand it.

The po-mo splatter fest made its first stab at the cinema during SXSW 2006. The film makers want to bring it back as part of a series of sixth anniversary screenings, so they are organizing a series of screenings using the Gathr booking system. Fortunately, Austin is on their target list.

Gathr.us is a lot like Tugg, the Austin-based system of booking films for the people, by the people. In a riff on the Kickstarter model, people can pre-order tickets for a one-off screening. If enough tickets are sold, the screening goes ahead. If they sell 30 tickets by midnight tonight (Sunday, April 8) then there will be a screening at 9pm, April 11, at the Alamo Village.

UPDATE: Just got word the screening has been pushed back to April 25. And why, you may ask? Because director Scott Glosserman himself will be flying in for the show and will be holding a Q&A with Austin's own Britain Spellings who played Todd the cameraman. Tickets are available now.

So why the new interest? Because Glosserman is trying to get a second Leslie Vernon movie, Before the Mask prepped and up. He's also selling retro posters and a whole bunch of other oddities, rarities and collectables.

So this is your chance to see the film that our own Marc Savlov called "a wickedly entertaining postmodern take on the hallowed, Eighties-era slasher flicks." Tickets for the screening are on sale now.