The first trailer for the Slender Man movie is here, and it’s got people talking.
Slender Man was originally just an urban legend birthed on online forums. A creature with no face, a dark suit, and incredibly long limbs, he preys on kids and slowly drives them mad as he inches closer to them. The creature first appeared on a Something Awful thread in 2009, and the legend has grown significantly since then.
It’s not totally surprising that this legend earned itself a major motion picture, although it is surprising how long it took studios to jump on board the Slender Man train. Now, just shy of a decade since the monster was first introduced, we’ve got our first look a Slender Man film.
If you’re coming to the legend cold, this trailer will be unsettling and confusing. But suffice it to say, and things get bloody as Slender Man closes in on a group of teens attempting to debunk him.
On its own, this looks like a pretty typical horror film. However, the film has some scratching their heads. The monster’s rise to popularity inspired a swath of brutal tragedies, most notably inspiring two girls to stab their friend 19 times in 2014. The girls responsible were sentenced just last year.
While the film doesn’t appear to directly touch on the real-life tragedies inspired by Slender Man, the characters in the film do seem supernaturally inspired to harm themselves and others. Bill Weier, the father of one of the girls responsible in the 2014 stabbing said releasing the movie is distasteful and popularizes a tragedy.
While Slender Man is a classic creepypasta story, reviving the legend does seem to be a bit problematic, considering recent events. We can only hope the film doesn’t set off another wave of tragedies.