‘Slender Man’ will finally bring the internet’s favorite boogeyman to life, but is it missing the bigger (and better) picture?
Here’s a prediction for you: Slender Man is going to make eleventy bazillion dollars at the box office. The first trailer, which dropped earlier this week, seems to offer just that right balance of generic – but effective – scares and young, talented actors ready to take their onscreen work to the next level. Throw in the title character’s internet mystique and a real-life murder attempt done in Slender Man’s name and you have all the makings for a mindless alternative to your third Avengers: Infinity War screening this May.
Oh yes, you’ve heard of the Slender Man. By now you’ve probably read a few articles on the internet origins of the character or even watched the 2016 HBO documentary Beware the Slenderman, which dug into the circumstances surrounding a 2014 attempted murder by two Wisconsin teenagers who claimed to be invoking the fictitious monster itself. Above and beyond the lackluster first trailer, the Wisconsin events have led some to openly criticize the project, with people questioning whether the entire affair has been done in bad taste. This has led to a sort-of split in my own thinking about the movie. While the film looks like an utterly generic spin on late-’90s horror movie tropes, I cannot help but see a horror film that might’ve confronted a real terrifying issue in the world today. Simply put, we need more horror films that deal with the psychology – not just the aesthetics – of the internet and social media.
The article ‘Slender Man’ Or Not, We Need More Horror Films About the Dangers of Online Communities appeared first on Film School Rejects.
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