F*ck you, Screen Gems

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author: ethan butterfield | staff writer

So, should you see the upcoming Slender Man film? No. No, you shouldn’t.

Movies based off books, games, popular messaging icons, and various other things can usually be taken in two ways: they’re either going to be really good, or really bad. That being said, though, there’s a new issue that we have to face: the ever approaching and more than likely terrible Slender Man movie, which is set for release this upcoming May.

For those who aren’t aware, the Slender Man film that is set to hit theaters was originally based on a creepypasta made in the “Something Awful” forums by Eric Knudsen. The creature (Slender Man) is being noted as something of a supernatural figure, being tall, quite thin, and faceless. The character that Knudsen had created quickly gained a lot of attention, and thus broke out into the mainstream media. Slender Man had managed to find its way into video games, fan art, short stories, and most notably, the Marble Hornets series, which dives deeper into The Slender Man mythos.

Unfortunately, Slender Man’s popularity didn’t come without a price. A horrifying incident occurred in Waukesha, Wisconsin on May 31, 2014, when a stabbing took place in local woods. Two 12-year-olds, Anissa Weier and Morgan Geyser, had stabbed Payton Leutner 19 times to try and gain favor with “The Slender Man.” Payton was rushed to the hospital after being found on the roadside, and has thankfully now made a full recovery. The two who committed the stabbing went to court to be tried. Although the verdict was found to be “not guilty due to insanity,” Anissa Weier was committed to 25 years in a state mental institute. Morgan Geyser has not been given a specified amount of time yet.

I’ll admit that when I first saw the trailer for the new Slender Man film, I thought it looked like an interesting psychological, mind-bending picture; doing more research into the Slender Man itself, however, the acts that have taken place and what such things can do to young minds made me, quite literally, sick to my stomach.

Long story short, this sickening, twisted act is something that the people at Screen Gems need to look at before releasing this film. This, and the other incidents that have occurred due to the release of The Slender Man creepypasta, are more than enough reason to step back from any production that’s going on and, instead, addressing the incidents themselves. Actually, for anyone who’s interested, Beware The Slenderman is an HBO documentary that discusses the Waukesha incident and offering a different informative viewpoint on the Slender Man as “cultural phenomenon.”

So, should you see the upcoming Slender Man film? No. No, you shouldn’t. Not just because it’s surrounded be terrible events, but also because it’s taking those events out of the equation altogether. There is no respect for people that have been hurt here. There are just greedy, shithead producers and companies taking property and completely disregarding any negative press surrounding it. Pardon my language, but fuck you, Screen Gems.

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