Slender Man was very recently released and it had every opportunity to become the next big horror film. The story originated from a viral Creepypasta character that picked up steam and got a lot of attention all around the globe. The concept and trailers generated hype for the movie that was certainly not fulfilled by the full picture. So, what happened to Slender Man?
Sony Gems had got David Birke on board to write the script back in 2016, and chose Sylvain White to direct. They also got actress Joey King, who broke out in The Conjuring, on board with the project. Being the first movie adaptation to involve the popular fictional character, in many ways it looked like a very promising production.
Well then, after disagreements between Sony Pictures and the producers of the movie about the marketing strategy, Slender Man was nearly sold to another distributor just a couple of months before the release which is relatively unheard of. This lead to the promotional material that circulated being very minimal.
Further to this, Bloody Disgusting have reported that the cut being shown in theaters is far from the full version of Slender Man. Originally producers made a much darker film that had to be cut to gain a PG-13 rating as the flicks target audience is teens. After the screenplay was reworked, the film went into production.
On top of that, Sony and Screen Gems were reportedly fearful of backlash they may receive for Slender Man. There was a well publicized incident in 2014 that saw two twelve year old’s attempt to stab a classmate to death and claimed that Slender Man told them to do it. A father of one of the perpetrators had publicly criticized the movie calling it ‘distasteful.’ Due to this, in the run up to the release, several major scenes were cut from the movie. This includes things we saw in the trailers such as a character stabbing her eyes out, or another ripping her tongue out after encountering the Slender Man in the woods.
Should those scenes have remained in the movie? I think so. Would it have made the movie a great success? Maybe not, but we’re not going to find out anyway. Slender Man should have been up there with the greats like Jason Voorhees and Freddy Krueger, but turned out to be a massive disappointment.
What do you think of Slender Man? Let us know in the comments down below!