In 2009, participating in a photoshop contest, a website known as “Creepypasta,” created a character named, “Slender Man.” He’s described as a tall, pale, faceless man wearing a dark suit. When a photo of Slender Man went viral, the mythology of the character was expanded upon a YouTube series “Marble Hornets,” a video game “Slender: The Eight Pages,” parodies, memes among many other things for Creepypasta becoming a cult phenomenon alongside other modern urban legends like “Jeff The Killer,” “Candle Cove & “The Russian Sleep Experiment.”
Five Year Later. One evening in Waukesha, Wisconsin a pair of two girls named, Anissa Weier & Morgan Geyser, fascinated over Slender Man, used their friend Peyton Leuter as bait by stabbing her a few times, believing they might summon Slender Man’s attention. The plan goes awry when the girls flee leaving their wounded friend alone. As Leutner was found and later fully recovered, Weier & Geyser were eventually arrested as they await trial. Creepypasta reacted to the news as they do not condone murder and satanic rituals. They streamed a live video showing that every member of the website actually care for Leutner. A charity event in the city of Madison, Wisconsin raised money for Leutner’s medical bills. Thank goodness she can finally move on for a proper future.
Prior to the perpetrators sentence, HBO commenced a documentary titled, “Beware The Slender Man” by interviewing family members of the perpetrators lives, background and activities before the horrible tragedy occurred.
Beware The Slender Man officially premiered at South By Southwest. (SXSW for short)
The following review will not be a full spoiler article. As we all know about that tragic event. This documentary is best to speak for itself. Out of respect for the victim, I won’t go into full detail about the entire documentary or make any wisecracks. No funny business, this is a serious subject.
Positive & Negative Elements
Positive: We learn about the perpetrators’ backgrounds prior to the stabbing.
Family members of the perpetrators are interviewed as both families talk about the friendship between the two.
Footage shows Slender Man related adaptations including YouTube web series Marble Hornets and the video game Slender: The Eight Pages for documentary purposes.
The Internet plays a huge role connected to the mythology of Slender Man’s online history since 2009.
A trial is displayed with Weier & Geyser as defendants. Obviously guilty.
The documentary ends with the fate of the girls serving separate sentences. Weier won’t be released until she turns 35. Geyser is in lockdown until she turns 53.
Negative: Nothing wrong was depicted in this documentary.
The Final Verdict: A, FOR APEX!
Beware The Slender Man is presented as a word of caution for parents if their kids want to go on The Internet lookin’ up weird subjects. If you’re a parent, always use a tracker of some sort to check on your son/daughter’s search history to make sure he or she isn’t going on the wrong path. If they look up something very disturbing, talk to your son or daughter about the dangers of The Dark Web Tell them the differences between real and fake. If you fail to cooperate, a similar Slender Man incident might happen to your loved one. Be prepared as a responsible father/mother to your kids.
I hope another incident won’t happen again. As mature adults aware of reality, we need to take precautions for anybody who has children, curious about what’s real or fictional,
Nickthemoviecritic.com 