If you thought the Slender Man craze was over, then you better think again. Over the years, the Internet famous ghoul has made the rounds, but it looks like Hollywood is taking a stab at his story. This fall, Slender Man will hit theaters, and its second theatrical trailer just dropped.
Videos by ComicBook.com
So, if you hear any bells tolling around you later tonight, watch your back.
As you can see above, the new trailer dips into the story of Slender Man. Everything begins with a group of high school students who find themselves caught up in the lore of Slender Man. One of their classmates Katie Jensen goes missing, three of her friends go diving into her recent activities to suss out where she went. And, given Katie’s recent obsession with Slender Man, the girls think they have a good idea of what happened.
The trailer continues as it explores the trio’s journey to find Katie. They enter the same woods their friend went into to summon Slender Man, but everything goes south when they realize this folk tale is more truth than it is fiction. The creature’s gangly frame can be found haunting the girls through the forest, and that is only the beginning of the group’s paranormal plight.
While this film’s story is based in fantasy, the horror Slender Man has brought to real life is anything but fictitious. Back in 2014, two 12-year-old girls famously lured one of their friends into a park restroom and tried to sacrifice her to Slender Man. After being stabbed numerous times, the victim managed to escape, and the ensuing legal case was explored in the documentary Beware the Slenderman.
Naturally, Slender Man has provoked some controversy given the nature of this brutal crime, and the father of the attack’s victim says he cannot abide this kind of film being made.
“It’s absurd they want to make a movie like this,” Bill Weier said during a press telephone interview. “It’s popularizing a tragedy is what it’s doing. I’m not surprised but in my opinion it’s extremely distasteful. All we’re doing is extending the pain all three of these families have gone through.”
Currenty, Slender Man is set to hit theaters on August 10th following a premiere earlier in the year. You can check out the synopsis for the horror flick below:
“In a small town in Massachusetts, four high school girls perform a ritual in an attempt to debunk the lore of Slender Man. When one of the girls goes mysteriously missing, they begin to suspect that she is, in fact, HIS latest victim.”
Will you be checking out this horror feature when it hits theaters? Do you remember Slender Man’s viral rise? Let me know in the comments or hit me up on Twitter @MeganPetersCB to talk all things comics and anime!