We reported back in January that HBO, capitalizing on the current obsession with true crime documentaries like Netflix’s Making a Murderer, would soon release a dark documentary of there own titled Beware the Slenderman, from director Irene Taylor. Today, the television premiere date has finally been revealed as January 23, 2017 on HBO.
Beware the Slenderman, set to have a special screening at DOC NYC this weekend, delves into the legend of Slenderman 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 it 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.
Weier and Geyser have now petitioned for separate trials and are currently housed in a juvenile detention facility. The two will return to court today (November 11th).
The documentary, filmed over 18 months, will include interviews with the girls’ family members, home videos and the taped confessions from the girls.
