Slender Man Movie Review

By: Lynn Barker

In a suburban high school, besties Wren (Joey King), Hallie (Julia Goldani Telles), Chloe (Jaz Sinclair) and Katie (Annalise Basso) learn that a group of guys led by hottie Tom (Alex Fitzalan) plan to summon up urban legend Slender Man (Javier Botet), a tall, spindly child stealer who is rumored to mesmerize and kidnap kids and teens or drive them mad. The girls meet that night to do their own summoning. The s**t is about to hit the fan because somebody will be successful! The future is full of doom and nightmares.

One of the girls' nightmaresCourtesy of Sony Pictures

Summoning the Boogeyman

Best friends Wren, Hallie, Chloe and Katie decide to one-up a group of guys by trying to summon Slender Man during a drunken sleep-over at Katie’s house. The legend dictates that you will hear three bells. Keep your eyes closed until the last bell and never look at Slender Man when he comes. The girls watch a Slender Man video on a website and hear the bells. Katie opens her eyes too soon. Everyone else just thinks it’s dumb. After this Katie has weird bad dreams.

Katie before she disappearedCourtesy of Sony Pictures

Abduction

On a field trip, Katie disappears into the woods. A search turns up nothing. The other girls start to have nightmares. One night Hallie and her little sis Lizzie (Taylor Richardson), hear weird noises in their house and are sure Slender Man is coming up the stairs but it is Katie’s half-mad alcoholic dad (Kevin Chapman), blaming Hallie for Katie’s disappearance. The cops pick him up. The girls pass out fliers about missing Katie and learn that Tom and buddies chickened out and never tried to summon Slender Man. It’s their fault he is here and they need to find Katie.

Wren and Hallie try to message ChloeCourtesy of Sony Pictures

Gathering Clues

The girls go to Katie’s house to snoop. She had been drawing pictures of Slender Man and had been into occult books and videos of sightings of the monster before she disappeared. She’d also been messaging with Alleycat93, someone who has seen Slender Man. They also see a video of Katie in the woods getting grabbed. They message Alleycat about how to get Katie back. She says that you must give him something you love and that he is watching the girls. He will get in their heads, take them, drive them mad or haunt them.

Wren and Hallie worry about ChloeCourtesy of Sony Pictures

Into the Woods and Beyond

The friends carry things they love into the woods, put them in a pile and, blindfolded, ask for Katie’s return. They hear the three bells but, creeped out, Chloe removes her blindfold early, sees Slender Man and runs and falls. He is there looking into her face. She screams. Dazed, she tells the others nothing happened. Katie doesn’t return. Later, Hallie gets a video call and it’s from the P.O.V. of “someone” entering her house and heading to her room! Later in class, Wren and Hallie make excuses for Chloe not being there. She is really at home in a mad stupor. Hallie goes to Tom’s house to make out and sees Slender Man in the distance. Wren is at the library researching and finds a book on “Bio-Electric” beings that describes Slender Man perfectly. Lights go out and Slender Man appears, chases her and gives her scary visions.

The library lights go out leaving Wren vulnerableCourtesy of Sony Pictures

The Terror Spreads

Alleycat’s account has been deleted and after Tom seemingly turns into a monster during the make-out session at his house, the group reasons that he must also have seen the Slender Man video. Hallie’s little sis Lizzie freaks out and has to be hospitalized and Hallie learns that Wren took her to the woods and now she too is a victim, going mad. Hallie is plagued by more nightmares and visions. Wren almost jumps off her roof but is stopped by Hallie. Will any of the girls survive? How far will the Slender Man curse spread?

Hallie's little sis Lizzie goes madCourtesy of Sony Pictures

Wrapping Up

In case you aren’t aware, Slender Man was/is a viral meme internet sensation and urban myth that caused one girl’s near-murder by a couple of her classmates because Slender Man told them to do it. There have been multiple storylines and tales of sightings all over the web.

This Slender Man film shares many characteristics of the classic horror film The Ring but not nearly as well-executed. The movie takes its time really getting scary, lacks tension and is just a series of jump scares interspersed with the doomed teen girls going alone to each other’s houses and snooping for clues.

Chloe is losing her mindCourtesy of Sony Pictures

None of the girls’ efforts add up to anything. Anybody can watch the Slender Man video online, there’s something about three bells (unexplained) and not looking until the last one sounds and the Wren character (Joey King) discovers a book on beings made out of electrical energy and the description seems to match Slender Man but she doesn’t follow up by calling the author or researching further. The girls are watching internet video of themselves in the woods but who is shooting the video? As far as we know Slender Man doesn’t have a phone or camera! There is no real race against time involved to build tension.

On the plus side, the movie is atmospheric and looks spooky and bizarre enough with scenes in fog-shrouded woods and unexplained nightmare sequences. The sound is also quite effective as the crunching and cracking of branches (or is it bones?) fills the air when Slender Man approaches.

Annalise, Joey and Julia at the premiereCourtesy of Sony Pictures

Also a plus, the four young lead actresses are effective and each displays a different personality.  

Annalise Basso is KatieCourtesy of Sony Pictures

The movie seems to be a cautionary tale advising us not to perpetuate and pass around urban legends because doing so just gives the beings in them more evil power. The Slender Man character himself, a faceless dude in a suit with tentacle “arms” that look like tree branches, isn’t all that creepy but a much more creative and frightening story could have been based on him. There is enough of at least a visual creep-factor to go three stars.

Slender Man Movie Rating: 

Courtesy of Sony Pictures

See Slender Man in theaters now!

Have Your Say

Were you aware of the Slender Man online craze? Will you think twice about passing on urban legends? Comment below!