The trailer for Slender Man is out, and from the looks of it, the movie is sure to appeal fans of horror and gore. The preview hints that the film takes a more horrific rather than a psychological approach to the stories surrounding the urban legend.
The famous Creepy Pasta meme is finally getting its spotlight on the big screen after an acclaimed venture into the world of video games in 2012. The tall, lanky, and mysterious mythical creature does not make much of an appearance in the trailer. He only briefly appears near the end of the preview — and in shadows — possibly to avoid spoilers and ruin the whole film. Instead, the trailer focuses on the effect the Slender Man has on a small community, where girls are mysteriously disappearing one by one.
The video opens with quick shots of a girl staring into the woods, a group of friends at a cemetery, police cars with their sirens on, and a search party. Then a father asks about his daughter who has mysteriously disappeared.
"People don't just disappear," he says.
The trailer gives off that sense of mystery, tension, and dread as it slowly reveals how the Slender Man affects people's minds. One woman says that it gets in your head. Then the preview shows a young girl, who appears to have encountered the creature, on a hospital bed screaming a girl's name. Then another girl stabs herself in the eye with a scalpel during class.
However, from the looks of the trailer, director Sylvain White is doing away with the psychological approach to the myth, which made the game Slender: The Eight Pages famously terrifying. Instead, he is turning the urban legend into a traditional horror film. The film has more elements of horror: the bugs crawling out of mouths, wriggling worms, the typical dark rooms, doors banging, and doorknobs rattling.
Fans fear Slender Man is going to be another low-budget horror film. The plot itself delves into spoiler territory. It simply follows a group of girls who venture into the cause of the recent disappearances. Regardless, fans would have to see how the film translates the stories surrounding the myth. The movie opens in theaters on May 18.
Meanwhile, Sony Pictures has also released a promotional poster for the upcoming film, which is very on-point. It shows Slender Man behind a foggy glass.
Slender Man stars Javier Botet as the titular character and Joey King, Annalise Basso, Jaz Sinclair, and Julia Goldani Telles as the girls who go up against him.
