The Horror Show
Slender Man
by Sylvain White
Where an internet meme meets horror and reality merges with imagination, the outcome can often amaze. Is this the case with Sylvain White’s Slender Man?
The ghastly, faceless and long shadow creature was first introduced back in 2009 by Eric Knudsen. The character of Slender Man, who terrorized teens and drove them to their death, quickly became very popular within the horror community. Thus, those who have shivered at the Slender Man tale over the last decade surely must have had their hopes up. Unfortunately, White’s 2018 feature has been a tedious attempt to bring this internet sensation back to life.
Diving a bit more into David Birke’s story, we see four girlfriends - indifferent and bland personas - sitting in a basement and foolishly watching a video that is said to be the gate into the sinister world of Slender Man.
Further adding a digital twist to a traditional haunting story, Slender Man sometimes uses online tools against its victims. Instant messages and video calls drag the quarter of girls into the darkest corners of the internet. Clearly, White and Birke really wanted to make this digital angle stick, hence the line of one of the protagonists, “He gets in your head like a computer virus!”
After stupidly summoning this ancient evil spirit, the group of friends become more infected by the Slender Man’s energy as days go by. That’s when White and Birke bring in the big guns: paranoia, screams and death.
Apart from some lukewarm jump-scares, Slender Man seems to have been crafted on the fly. Even though the tale of the creepy creature hasn’t been overly covered yet, White’s Slender Man story feels worn out.
So, no. The blending of a famous internet meme with horror didn’t yield an amazing outcome. Slender Man feels low-budget and it fails to add anything new to an already saturated genre. No refreshing twists or remarkable performances are there to support the opposite, and thus, Sylvain White’s creation has, unfortunately, an already expired shelf-life.
Maria Kriva, HMS
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