Here we go: the first trailer for the Slender Man film is here, and it’s a bit… well… both deeply disturbing and full of every horror movie cliché imaginable.
Writhing maggots, screaming hospital patients, dark woods, a lost child, shadows playing on the walls, bathtubs, unnecessary amounts of hair, acts of violence in the classroom… and a single, ghostly shot of the tall, skinny lad. Oh, and a maniacal child laughing. Of course there is.
Watch the trailer here, and if you can understand what’s even going on, more power to you.
The tagline reads, “He gets in your head like a virus,” which is appropriate for a film based off an almost-decade-old creepypasta. It also comes nearly four years after two incidences of acts of violence inspired by the meme, which doesn’t exactly make this thing timely.
isnt this movie like 10 years too late? lol
— Draconic Pugnator (@ICFreviews) January 3, 2018
Hell yeah this is going to be the movie of 2011.
— Steven (@Bloodywaynker) January 3, 2018
this would be relevant 4 years ago…yall are late
— ????Danielle???? (@WildestGetaway) January 3, 2018
striking while the iron is dead cold. https://t.co/dGwLWQGPRz
— BORIS [Golden Kamuy fanart dispenser] (@MobileSuitBoris) January 3, 2018
It’s also not the first attempt to portray this meme in film. HBO‘s documentary Beware the Slenderman, which told the story of the two 12-year-old girls who lured their friend into the woods and stabbed her 19 times and premiered at South by Southwest in 2016, was a bit hit-and-miss, but at least it came out significantly closer to the 2014 crime.
Reactions to the trailer have been middling at best, although the hype is still certainly there. This movie is probably going to still do okay among the ‘always online in 2010’ crowd.
I’ve been waiting for a Slender Man movie but I need to see another trailer. This one just had creepy images but I have no idea what’s going on lol
— Kar L. Stine (@karyewest) January 3, 2018
Trailer felt like a whole lot of nothing to me but I still want this to be good
— Agathor17 (@Agathor17) January 3, 2018
This movie looks like a students’ project in where the main theme is using color correction.
— Pun(ished) Satura (@PunStarTracer) January 3, 2018
This one of the worst trailers I’ve ever seen, nothing happened https://t.co/6q8s0HuLWD
— xxxtenkaichibudokai3 (@Kohuneh) January 3, 2018
There’s no release date yet, but we’ll keep you posted.