Not to be confused with the real-life documentary of the same name comes fictional new horror movie Slender Man, taking place in a small town in Massachusetts and following the story of four high school girls who perform a ritual in a bid to debunk the lore behind the titular horror character. When one of the four goes missing however, they begin to suspect that she has become his latest victim.
This week, Sony Pictures have unveiled the brilliant first trailer for the film, as well as a brand new poster showcasing the Slender Man himself, and you can check both of them out below:
Directed by Sylvain White and written by David Birke, based on the character by Victor Surge, Slender Man stars the likes of Joey King, Julia Goldani-Telles, Jaz Sinclair, Annalise Basso and Javier Botet, and is produced by Bradley J. Fischer, James Vinderbilt, William Sherak, Robyn Meisinger and Sarah Snow.
The film isn’t without its controversy, with the father of Anissa Weier – one of two girls who attacked their classmate to get on the mythical monster’s good side – slamming Sony Pictures for their decision to bring a blockbuster movie to the big screen.
Speaking to the Associated Press earlier this week, he said: “It’s absurd they want to make a movie like this. It’s popularising a tragedy is what it’s doing. I’m not surprised, but in my opinion it’s extremely distasteful. All we’re doing is extending the pain all three of these families [involved in the real-life murder case] have gone through.”
Whilst it’s understandable the real-life tragedy is something the families would like to forget, artistic creativity and freedom should not be hampered because of an extremely rare real-life case. The Slender Man has always been a fictional character that has gained prominence on the web because of the terrifying nature of the stories people would make up about him, so to see that come to movie theatres isn’t actually a huge leap. It’s the logical next step.
Slender Man comes to cinemas across the UK on May 18.