We are getting not getting one, but two films about the legend of Slender Man. The first, a film from Screen Gems titled ‘Slenderman‘, will begin filming this Spring under the direction of Sylvain White (Hawaii Five-O, I’ll Always Know What You Did Last Summer). The film is set to release on February 2, 2018.
Per Deadline: Sylvain White has been set to direct Slender Man, the Screen Gems thriller that will begin production by the spring. White made his feature directing debut with Screen Gems on the sleeper hit Stomp the Yard, and also directed The Losers. Scripted by David Birke, Slender Man revolves around a tall, thin horrifying figure with unnaturally long arms and a featureless fact, who is reputed to be responsible for the haunting and disappearance of countless children and teens. It was hatched as a multi-platform property, and Screen Gems last year acquired the screen rights from Mythology Entertainment, Madhouse Entertainment, and No Dream Entertainment. Bradley Fischer, James Vanderbilt and William Sherak are producing for Mythology, along with Madhouse’s Robyn Meisinger and No Dream’s Sarah Snow. Tracey Nyberg is exec producing with Louis Sallerson, Adam Kolbrenner and Ryan Cunningham. UTA and Principato-Young rep White.
We will see the release of the true crime documentary ‘Beware the Slenderman‘ on HBO, on January 23rd, from director Irene Taylor.
‘Beware the Slenderman’ delves into the legend of the faceless entity and the case of Morgan Geyser and Anissa Weier, two 12- year-old Wisconsin girls, and their brutal attempted murder of their friend and classmate, Payton Leutner, another 12-year-old girl. The documentary first premiered at this year’s SXSW. What makes the case so interesting are the girls’ claims that the attempted murder was an attempt to please Slenderman, a legend created by Eric Knudsen on the Something Awful internet forum.
The two girls were convinced that Slenderman was very real and that he would hurt their families if they did not make a human sacrifice to him. On May 31, 2014, after months of planning, the two girls lured the victim into the woods, stabbed her 19 times and left her for dead. Somehow, Leutner found the strength to crawl out of the woods. A bicyclist came across the girl laying in the middle of a path and called for help. It’s a miracle that the victim survived and has since recovered physically.
The documentary will explore the legend and follow the trial of Geyser and Weier. The documentary, filmed over 18 months, will include interviews with the girls’ family members, home videos and the taped confessions from the girls.
