Beware the Slenderman (2016)

Tells the story of two 12-year old girls, who attempted to murder one of their friends in an attempt to appease Slenderman, a fictional monster from a horror website.

Director:

Irene Taylor Brodsky

Stars:

Morgan Geyser, Anissa Weier, Angie Geyser

1 win & 4 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Morgan Geyser	...	Herself - Stabbing Suspect
Anissa Weier	...	Herself - Stabbing Suspect
Angie Geyser	...	Herself - Morgan's Mother
Bill Weier	...	Himself - Anissa's Father
Michael O. Bohren	...	Himself - Judge
Michelle Trussoni	...	Herself - City of Waukesha Police Department
Kristi Weier	...	Herself - Anissa's Mother
Payton Leutner	...	Herself - Stabbing Victim (archive footage)
Trevor J. Blank	...	Himself - Digital Folklorist
Brad Kim	...	Himself - KnowYourMeme.com
Richard Dawkins	...	Himself - Evolutionary Biologist
Jack Zipes	...	Himself - Literary Critic
Tom Haynes	...	Himself - Anissa's Former Teacher
Abigail Baird	...	Herself - Neurodevelopmental Psychologist
Tyler	...	Himself - Former Fellow Inmate

Storyline

Lurking in the shadows of the Internet, a faceless modern-day bogeyman has attracted the attention and fear of a young generation who whisper his name online. Slenderman lives on the dark pages of the web, where impressionable youth create and cultivate his mythos in message boards, YouTube clips and various other digital incantations. But the online fairy tale becomes a shocking real-life horror as two 12-year-old girls, guided by their devotion to Slenderman, lure their friend into the woods to attempt a seemingly inexplicable, brutal murder. From the depths of one the Internet's most unsettling creations to the court case that must consider the consequences, Beware the Slenderman brings to light questions of accountability in an age where young, growing minds are only a few clicks away from creating and consuming something that may influence them to commit unspeakable crimes.

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Plot Keywords:

internet | girl | stabbing | meme | child | 

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Taglines:

On May 31st, 2014, in the woods outside of Waukesha, Wisconsin, two 12-year-old girls stabbed their classmate 19 times. This is the true story of what drove them to do it.

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Genres:

Documentary | Biography | Crime

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Certificate:

TV-14

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

26 August 2018 (Sweden)

Also Known As:

Cuidado com o Slenderman

Company Credits

Production Co:

HBO Documentary Films, Vermilion Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

114 min

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

Although the stabbing took place in Waukesha County (Waukesha). Anisa is being held further north in adjoining Washington County (West Bend).

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Goofs

During Trevor J. Blank's interview (at the 28:18 mark), footage is shown of the popular Youtube series "WATCHER" by Andrew J. Neis. "WATCHER" is not a Slenderman-related series, it features a human stranger that stands outside of a couple's apartment window and stares at them, never moving or speaking. The creators of "Beware the Slenderman" appear to have digitally edited the video to remove the face of the "WATCHER" character and make it appear as though it could possibly be a real-life Slenderman.

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Quotes

Herself - Stabbing Suspect: Make sure she's down.

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Connections

Referenced in Half in the Bag: Slender Man (2018)

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Soundtracks

Rising Walls
(uncredited)
Music by Myuu

User Reviews

Fascinating (if a bit overlong) true-crime documentary

"Beware the Slenderman" (2016 release; 115 min.) is a true-crime documentary. As the movie opens, we are told it is "Waukesha, WI - May 31, 2014", and the police are coming out en masse after a 12 yr. old girl is found stabbed and in critical condition. It's not long before we understand that the girl was stabbed 19 times by two other 12 yr. old girls, apparently to appease a certain Slenderman. What happened here exactly? At this point we are 10 min. into the movie but to tell you more of the 'plot' would spoil your viewing experience, you'll just have to see for yourself how it all plays out.

Couple of comments: this is the latest from writer-producer-director (and veteran documentarian) Irene Taylor Brodsky. She traces the lives of Morgan and Anissa and how they eventually planned to kill their friend Bella, and why. The movie does a good job giving those of us not familiar with the Slenderman phenom what it's all about, and how this may have influenced these young girls into doing what they did. One of the key legal issues is whether the girls should be tried as adults or not. The best part of the movie for me is the extensive footage taken from the (separate) interviews of the girls the day they are apprehended. You can't make this stuff up, just absolutely amazing. There are also extensive interviews with the parents, none of whom had any clue whatsoever that something might not be right with these girls. And then there are the multiple psychiatrists who pitch in whether this involves delusional disorder or even schizophrenia. Yes, for 12 year old kids! My only complaint is that, at about 2 hours, the documentary is a bit too long for its own good. Tighter editing could've easily trimmed 15 min. or so without losing any of the essence of this fascinating true-crime documentary.

The documentary originally aired on HBO in early 2017, but thankfully I found this in the HBO On Demand library just the other day. Beware: filming for the documentary concluded (roughly) at the end of 2015, so the movie is frankly a little bit out of date by now, and I ended up searching on-line what became of all this in the last 3 years. Other than that, I was transfixed by "Beware of Slenderman".