Beware the Slenderman

Beware the Slenderman (stylized as _beware the slenderman) is a 2016 American documentary film directed by Irene Taylor Brodsky about the Slender Man stabbing.^[1] It premiered at South by Southwest in March 2016 and was broadcast on HBO on January 23, 2017.^[2][3] The film received mixed reviews.

Beware the Slenderman
Television release poster
Directed by	Irene Taylor Brodsky
Produced by	Sophie Harris Irene Taylor Brodsky
Cinematography	Nick Midwig
Edited by	Gladys Mae Murphy
Music by	Benoît Charest
Production company	HBO Documentary Films
Distributed by	HBO Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution
Release dates	March 11, 2016 (2016-03-11) (South by Southwest) January 23, 2017 (2017-01-23)
Running time	117 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

Synopsis

Beware the Slenderman discusses the incident in which two girls attempted to murder one of their friends in an attempt to appease Slender Man, a fictional monster who originated from an Internet phenomenon called "creepypasta". The documentary was shot over eighteen months and contains interviews with the families of the two would-be murderers.

The film makes use of various YouTube videos to do with Slender Man, in particular footage from Marble Hornets and Tribe Twelve. It also makes use of footage from the games Slender: The Eight Pages and Minecraft.^{[citation needed]}

Reception

Beware the Slenderman received mixed reviews. The film received a 85% score based off 26 reviews on Rotten Tomatoes.^[4] Metacritic rated the film as "generally favorable" with a critic score of 78 based off 8 reviews.^[5] Benjamin Lee of The Guardian said "Beware the Slenderman is both haunting and poignant, a sad tale of what bullying, untreated mental illness and crushing loneliness can create. It’s pre-empting a fictional horror film about Slenderman, now in production, that seems somewhat irresponsible in comparison." and gave it a 4/5 stars.^[6]