So what’s the story? Is Leslie Vernon coming back?

Earlier this month, rumors began to circulate that Before the Mask: The Return of Leslie Vernon, a sequel/prequel to 2006’s Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon, was finally getting off the ground. You may remember that director Scott Glosserman tried to fan-fund the film several years ago, but it had been a while since we heard a peep from the Vernon camp.

We even exclusively spoke with writer David Stieve, who told us that SOMETHING was indeed happening. But what exactly is happening? And what’s the latest on this one?

Speaking with Scaredycast, Glosserman just provided an update. He explained that he hopes to bring Leslie Vernon back soon (maybe even in a comic book), but that nothing is set in stone at this moment in time. He also delved into Stieve’s script for Before the Mask, written several years ago, which is now quite dated because it comments on the then-current state of the genre.

Said Glosserman:

The script itself captures that mid-aughts period, in the midst of the torture porn/found footage genres. It had a lot of interesting things to say. Today, that script, that film, is almost like a period piece because I don’t necessarily want to bring it up to current day, and yet, certain things may feel a little bit old or period, depending on how you look at it. I think we captured the essence of what was happening several years ago. If we do get the opportunity to make the film, I’m not sure I’d want to make the screenplay any more current. It’s a little bit of a conundrum.

We have ways of explaining that away. So for instance, that footage was shot at the time and then embargoed, and it’s only coming out now. It’s footage that was discovered in 2007. We can write that into the narrative. Or we can literally do a whole rewrite and bring it up to modern day. There are new conventions of horror. There’s just so much more material. That’s why I’m excited to hopefully have the opportunity to do another one.

While Leslie Vernon’s return is up in the air, Glosserman did break the exciting news that a 10th anniversary home video release is planned for the original film.

This is the 10th anniversary. We’re gonna release a 10th anniversary edition of the movie. And put some new special features, more of which I’ll be announcing at [next month’s SXSW film festival]. I’m debating whether to put the [deleted] courtroom epiloque on. It would be a bonus feature on the DVD/Blu-ray. I never recorded a director’s commentary. At this point I think it’d be kinda nice to reflect on the film and go through it.

There will be a 10th anniversary screening of Behind the Mask at SXSW next month, where we hope to learn more about the future of all things Leslie Vernon.

“Hopefully the year culminates with getting the right people interested to shoot this script,” Glosserman noted during the podcast interview.