Everything is a cinematic universe these days. And we fully support this one.

Leslie Vernon is hungry to return and slash up some more victims, and Behind the Mask writing/directing partners David Stieve and Scott Glosserman are doing everything in their power to make sure that happens. As we recently told you, they just launched an Indiegogo campaign to fund Before the Mask: The Return of Leslie Vernon, a “spreemake” that will serve as a comic book follow-up to 2006’s meta masterpiece. At the time of writing this, the campaign is over 90% funded, so there’s a damn good chance that the comic book series is headed our way soon.

But that’s not all that’s going on in the world of Leslie Vernon.

As part of a multi-pronged campaign to keep the slasher villain alive and ensure that he eventually returns in another feature film, Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon scribe David Stieve is making his directorial debut with an upcoming short titled Wait for It. The short is set in/near the fictional town of Glen Echo, which Leslie Vernon of course calls home.

The short, Stieve’s directorial debut, is being described as “a loving deconstruction of the slasher genre, this time from the perspective of Survivor Girl named Darcy who’s living in the aftermath of her own encounter with a Leslie Vernon type killer. We follow her as she travels home after a night out with friends, always remaining wary of the inevitable return of her tormentor.”

We caught up with Stieve for some exclusive insights. He told us:

It’s a fun story, one that the thinking horror fans will appreciate. It’s not gory or shocking, but has lots of little nods and homages to films like Halloween, I Know What You Did Last Summer, Black Christmas, Scream, and of course Behind the Mask. When I realized there was a way to tie it directly to the BEHIND THE MASK/Leslie Vernon universe, Scott (Glosserman) got behind it right away, and has been supportive of both the film and of me constantly pelting him with 1st time producer/director questions. That tie-in means that WAIT FOR IT will have a home: BTM’s 10 year DVD re-release, festivals like SXSW or Toronto who have been supportive of BTM; or if all else fails, it will be made available online.

So how will it connect to Behind the Mask? Stieve teased:

All I can say in detail on that is this: we’ve established that killers like Jason Voorhees and Michael Myers and Victor Crowley exist in Leslie’s world. Glen Echo is as real as Haddonfield. And in WAIT FOR IT, it’s established that Darcy is herself a Survivor Girl of an unrevealed killer in a similar town perhaps just down the road from Glen Echo. So if she exists in their world, and they exist in Leslie’s world… I’ll let the math wizards and philosophy majors connect the dots from there! Until then, you’re gonna have to… wait for it!

Stieve also told us that the plan is to dig deep into the Leslie Vernon Universe with spinoffs, a feature film sequel, and even a potential third film that he revealed the title of:

All of us on Team Vernon are actively waging a larger campaign, to generate source material like the comic book and these little side pieces which are intended to expand Leslie’s world, to demonstrate that he already IS an iconic killer, a marketable brand, with the eventual goal of filming the sequel, and a third story entitled BEHOLD THE MASK: THE REIGN OF LESLIE VERNON, and other spinoff stories. Fans have kept Leslie alive, and they’re keeping US going despite the larger forces of the industry not being willing to jump in.

Want to help out? You can pitch in to fund Wait for It over on Indiegogo. Keep Leslie Alive!