Spooky season is about to begin, and Netflix is getting ready for the march towards Halloween by adding several new horror movies to its roster in October.
One of those movies is Slender Man, the 2018 movie based on an internet phenomenon.
Starring Joey King and Jaz Sinclair, the movie was critically panned but brought in millions at the box office.
The Watch With Us team recommends giving the film a second look — it may just have been ahead of its time.
It’s One of the First Movies Based on a Meme
Unlike monster movies about werewolves or vampires, whose origin stories date back centuries, Slender Man is based on a relatively recent legend. Eric Knudsen first created the character in 2009 as part of a Photoshop contest on the website Something Awful, and Slender Man became a meme that horror fans could use however they wanted.If you’re someone who is passionate about myths and how they enter popular culture, Slender Man is an important milestone and a marker of how stories become legends.
‘Slender Man’ Stars Two Future Scream Queens
The story of Slender Man follows a group of friends — Wren (King), Hallie (Julia Goldani Telles), Chloe (Jaz Sinclair) and Katie (Annalise Basso) who go down an internet rabbit hole after Katie becomes obsessed with Slender Man.
Since 2018, King has become a star in her own right, and while her go-to genre hasn’t been horror, she’s starred in disturbing, intense thrillers like The Act and Uglies. Her performance in this film is far from her best work, but it’s an interesting look at the origins of a star on the rise.
Sinclair, for her part, is now starring in Gen V as Marie Moreau, a superpowered college student who can control blood. Intense action sequences, psychological horror and grotesque special effects are the norm in that series, so Slender Man was a perfect training ground for her to get comfortable with all things gory. Together, King and Sinclair bring an energy that makes revisiting their collaboration worthwhile for fans who want to see where their careers began.
The Visual Aesthetic Perfectly Captures What Made the Slender Man Concept So Scary
Slender Man leans into the visual elements that make Slender Man the character so spooky — the hazy, undefined mystery that places the creature squarely in the uncanny valley between human and inhuman. Beyond the portrayal of the monster itself, the whole movie has a similarly grey color palette, making every moment feel slightly surreal and just out of reach.
The film plays with what’s seen and what’s obscured, constantly misdirecting the characters and the viewers. Those stylistic choices work well with the inconsistencies of Slender Man’s origin story.
If you love the intersection of internet culture and creativity, Slender Man is a fascinating look at how the two can meet.
You can stream Slender Man on Netflix right now.
