Slender Man--- an otherworldly being who stalks his victims in a psychological and tormenting way. His desire or goal- seeing as many horror villains usually have one- is to abduct children. He is usually depicted as an overly tall and faceless man possessing lengthy arms with long boney fingers or tentacle-like appendages, who comes dressed to impress wearing a black suit. Slender Man is, of course, a fictional character who originated as a meme via an online site called Something Awful by user Eric Knudsen, who went by the username Victor Surge back in '09. Although Knudsen claimed to have been inspired by other movies or narratives that depicted a similar being, the mythical origins of a child abducting monster or entity is often claimed to have dated back to various times in history, from cave paintings to the Der Grosse Mann “tall man” folktale in Germany.
If that is not spooky enough for you, let's not forget that two young girls attempted to sacrifice their friend in hopes of luring Slender Man into actual existence. According to ABC news, two twelve-year-old girls Anissa Weier and Morgan Geyser from Wisconsin brutally stabbed their friend Payton Leutner multiple times and left her alone in the woods with hopes that she’d succumb to her injuries on May 31, 2014. Leutner miraculously survived her life-threatening injuries which were caused by a horrific betrayal of friendship. Weier and Geyser's obsession with Slender Man is said to have been the source behind the two of them committing such a horrendous crime. That same year, a 14-year-old girl from Florida allegedly set her family's house on fire in connection to her interest in Slender Man too. These real life events show just how influential the media can be for young children and teens.
It’s evident that Slender Man has become a well-known fictional figure among both children and adults. What started off as a supernatural being who could only be found via the worldwide web, is now depicted in video games and episodes of popular television shows. There is also speculation of a Slender Man movie in the works for future showings. Yes, you heard that right, the popularity of this fictional supernatural horror creature has risen to the status of heading to the big screen. According to an article from The Guardian, the Slender Man movie will be produced by Sony division Screen Gems, and scripted by David Birke. For those of us who have played one of the many games with depictions of Slender Man, a horror movie is well overdue. Slender Man has enough reputation to rise to high rank in the horror villain’s hall of fame, joining others such as Michael Myers, Freddy Krueger, Jason Voorhees, the sadistic clown "It", and the Candy Man, if the movie turns out to be a success.
As a fan of horror video games, I have no problem shooting zombies or escaping from sadistic axe-wielding killers. But during my first play through of the Slender Man video game, I jumped quite often when spotting this otherworldly being, while running in first person view through a dark forest. I'm definitely looking forward to trying to hold on to the edge of my seat when watching what I hope will be a thrilling horror movie. Let's just hope that renewing the hype behind this terrifying fictional being won't result in other acts of violence among our youth.
