Beware the Slenderman (2016) User Reviews

Disappointing

[DrGerbil · 5/10 · 3 February 2017]

Others have summarized this documentary far better than I can. I will just reiterate that the movie is far too long. There is a lengthy description of folklore and horror stories, which could have been cut down considerably.

Then there are the interviews with the parents of the two perpetrators, which also could have been cut down. It seems like there is a lot of repetition.

This movie could have been tightened up and submitted as a short- subject documentary, and I think it would have been better.

I did like the courtroom sequences; however, the cases are not yet resolved. Perhaps the film-maker could have waited another six months to give the story a better conclusion? Obviously the appeals are going to drag on for years, but at least show the audience the outcome of the trials, which apparently are taking place in the spring of 2017.

I also would have liked to have heard from the victim, or a member of the victim's family.

An Interesting True Crime Story that Where Less Could have Been More

[JustCuriosity · 7/10 · 16 March 2016]

Beware of the Slenderman was well-received at its world premiere at Austin's SXSW Film Festival. It is a true crime story about two 12-year-old girls who attempt to kill another young girl. The film, which will be broadcast in the near future on HBO. They are telling an intriguing story, but they try to tell too many stories. It seems obvious from the beginning that the girls are suffering from severe mental illness and that's the primary explanation for their violent behavior. Their behavior appears to be linked to mythic internet creature called Slenderman. Some of the most intellectual parts are their explorations of myth and folklore and how people come to rely on them. But then they seem to want to blame mental illness on misuse of the Internet. They don't seem to realize that there are mentally ill people who acted out violently long before there was the Internet. Long before "Slenderman" there were young people with psychological issues. And then spend a lot of time talking to the kids' troubled parents who feel responsible. And they explore the court procedures around their story. And they keep going on and on. They can't really figure out what story they are telling. At two hours the film simply goes on too long and goes off on too many tangents. They repeat their themes over and over without really getting that far. In the end, they could have told this troubling story a lot better and lot more simply. It is still an entertaining story, but it could have been a lot better.

The Victims

[spacem-42814 · 5/10 · 23 January 2017]

It's like there wasn't even a victim in this story. So sad. You would have thought the two criminals were the victims. I kept waiting to see a statement about how the victim and her family declined to participate. It never came. Their voices were so painfully absent. All tangled up in all the wrong things.

Overall it was certainly interesting, even captivating. But I found myself wanting so badly to hear from poor Payton. The only victim, along with her loved ones.

It will be interesting to see how it all turns out.

All the details about how internet myths start was so scary. And how kids are being raised now is scariest of all.

Filmmaker Doesn't Care About the Victim

[crowgrl13 · 30 March 2017]

It seems as though the victim in this, Payton Leutner, is just a footnote to this story. She was talked about very little, almost as if she were just some random classmate. I kept waiting to hear from her or her family, and when I didn't, I waited for a disclaimer that they didn't want to be interviewed, but neither happened. The film portrayed a lot of sympathy for the girls, and I have none. They had planned out this attack. Even at 12 years old, you know killing someone is wrong. But watching their families go on and on about how hard it was to be without their daughters and how it was so upsetting, it is easy to see why the girls themselves were so self-centered. They showed no remorse for killing her whatsoever. This film could have been so much better. What a disappointment.

Blame the Internet, blame the kids....honestly?

[Mblodnieks · 7/10 · 9 October 2018]

I found this to be a well done documentary that effectively portrayed our society the way it is today. The film glossed over the plight of the victim just as these girls did, and we expect them to show empathy? Did the filmmakers?

It's true kids are overexposed to a lot of things on the internet, but when HAVEN'T kids been exposed to awful things? Just look at the history of the world!! It is RIFE with horrific wars, oppression, persecution, poverty, death...children have always been exposed to these things.

The justice system is ridiculous. Trying 6th graders as adults, questioning their beliefs and labeling them mentally ill at age 12 when the brain isn't even developed? There's a reason we don't diagnose psychopathy until age 18.

I'm not excusing what these girls did. Its horrific. But why are we so baffled? Wars have been raging for millennia, and even in the 21st century society ADULTS are killing each other in the name of "beliefs," which are quite honestly no less rational than internet demons.

Seriously.

An interesting documentary that could've been so much more.

[maidwell-45616 · 6/10 · 15 April 2020]

This started off as a fascinating insight in to a horrific crime and it's young instigators but it is far too insular in its focus. By the 60 minute mark I was satisfied that the assailants motivations had been biasely justified, the whole "slenderman" and mythology in general had been thoroughly covered and I was craving for the story to expand in to the physiology of the young impressionable mind, into psychopathy (a blatantly obvious trait of at least one of the girls) and for the focus to switch to the victim and her family (in a respectful way, considering they didn't want to be involved), their complete ommission from the documentary plays out as an indifference to their horrific experience instead. I was also surprised with the multiple mentions of "believers" needing a group to belong to and the brainwashing involved in that dynamic, that the documentary makers weren't brave enough to bring up religion in that discussion (especially as a world leading expert on the subject Richard Dawkins was on a Skype call at one point)... But no they only used santa clause and the tooth fairy as examples.

Lil American Psycho's

[dafaq84 · 6/10 · 4 February 2017]

This documentary is an interesting look into how a supernatural internet meme can influence young minds. In this case, 2 young girls were convinced that an an internet creation, Slenderman, made them stab fellow classmate in the woods.

The documentary delves into the mental illness and how dangerous unsupervised internet can be for susceptible minds. I also took away how unprepared the court / prison systems can be when dealing with mental issues and how there is no real rehabilitation process in place - these young girls can only have 2 contact visits with their family each month.

There are some genuinely creepy parts - especially the part where one of the girls tells her family that the "others" decide what she watches on TV in her cell at night even though she is kept in solitary confinement.

However a bit too long and one sided - the 2 girls are not really the victim

This documentary about a creepy-pasta character & the attempt murder in his name will give you, the creeps. That's for sure. Talk about a disturbing pasta-aggressive behavior

[ironhorse_iv · 7/10 · 25 June 2017]

Over the past years, a horror stories website call 'Creepypasta', has given us, some of the biggest scares; ranging from tales of 'Jeff the Killer' to 'Ted the Caver'. However, none of them, have had, much of an impact, as 'the Slender Man', has. Originally, as an odd photo entry in an old school Photoshop contest by the 'Something Awful' comedy forums in 2009. Eric Knudsen AKA Victor Surge's creation has grown to become, an internet phenomenon, appearing in fan art, video games, literature, and even a couple of short films. Described as a tall, thin man with a blank face and tentacle-like arms. Urban legend maintains that Slenderman preys on children and has teleportation powers. While, most people, including children, understood that that mysterious being was not real. It didn't stop, two 12 year girls, Morgan Geyser and Anissa Weier from stabbing their friend, Payton "Bella" Leutner to prove critics and skeptic wrong, about his existence in 2014. Without spoiling, too much of it, this HBO documentary directed by Irene Taylor Brodsky, hope to explain, how, this tragic event came to be, and the results from it. For the most part, I have to say, this documentary indeed, was captivating. I like, how the film explore the internet mythos of the creature, and what made the make-believe being, so popular. I also, love, how the film, dig deep into the mental health of the two girls and why they thought, murdered, was the gateway to contacting the mythical creature. However, the film is without a few flaws. One of the biggest complains, about the film, is how much time, is spent on, building a defense case for the girls, by not guilty, by reason of insanity, and little time is spent on the opinions from the prosecutors. Even, the victim and her family was not interviewed. Because of that, the film does feel, a bit one-sided, in a plea of insanity. Regardless, of the facts, if the girls were truly insane or not, the film does tend to have two much, interviews with the parents of the two perpetrators; that it seems like there is a lot of repetition statements, being said, throughout the documentary, without much of anything new, being stated. It really does hurt the pacing of the film. It's bad, enough that the film intercuts dumb short, internet videos into the documentary that could be, cut, a little bit. After all, what does, a video about the worst toaster in the world, has to do or a guy making a sandwich, and flushing it, down the toilet, have to do with anything? Those two, don't really help, one bit, in showing the disturbing and foretelling signs of the girls, or their compassion side. Another problem, with the film is the fact that the case was not yet, resolved, when filming, started. Perhaps, if the film-maker waited for the trial to end, and the sentence, given. We could had a better all-around conclusion on what was going on. Besides the case, the film doesn't really explain, in detail, who Slenderman truly is. One of the biggest things, they didn't mention, was the fact that, graphic violence and body horror are very uncommon in a Slender Man story, with many narratives choosing to leave the fate of his victims obscure or unknown. I guess, the movie cut that fact, out, to make it, seem like the girls and the Slender Man stories, were more connected. Even, some of the videos and literature, that the movie uses as visual and hearing aids was in fact, not relate to the Creepypasta lore. One good example of this, is footage from 2011's 'Watcher' series. Also, I hate the fact that this movie didn't get an interview with creator, Eric Knudsen or anybody from Creepypasta. It could been nice to see, what they thought about the stabbings. Also, call it, nitpicking, but I though the film could had been stronger, if it introduce other incidents in the story, like the 2014's Port Richey arson, and 2015's Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, attempt suicide pact. To make it seem, less isolated. Overall: While, I wouldn't put this HBO documentary, anywhere near being call, a masterpiece. I do think, some of the critics, here, have underrated it, due to its one-sided message. In the end, while, this movie does have flaws, it also indeed shows that real life is as spooky as and stranger than fiction. In the end, I seen worst documentaries than this. This one is nowhere near those awful levels. This chilling insight look at the dark side of the digital age is worth checking out. It will give you, nightmares.

Interesting at a Half Hour, Monotonous at Two.

[aaronndubray · 5/10 · 27 January 2017]

While the documentary seeks to explore several themes around mental health, modern folklore, bullying, and modern technology's role in adolescent development and parenting it seldom finds a coherent thread to pull them together in any meaningful way. The film starts interestingly enough exploring the story of two adolescent girls who are pending trial as adults for the attempted murder of their friend. This in and of itself would make for a compelling case study on mandatory laws surrounding the subject of violent crimes committed by minors. Add to that the fact that the girls committed this act to gain the favor of a modern fictional boogeyman named Slenderman, and we now have the potential for an even more compelling discussion around mental health, the internet's influence on child development, modern parenting and any number of related topics. Unfortunately, this is where the narrative seems to stall with the filmmakers doing little more than exploring the folklore of Slenderman and how the girls' mutual status as outsiders may have led them to seek acceptance through belief in the fictional being. Though the filmmakers make several attempts to explore other themes including mental health (which arguably should be the central narrative), they seldom make it past a cursory examination of the facts as they exist, and attempt to draw little to no conclusion about how these facts should influence the outcome of the still pending trial. Perhaps this stance, or lack there-of, is out of respect for the victim in this tragic case, which is surprisingly absent through most of the discussion. The result however, is a story that would be thought provoking as a 30 minute true-crime new story, but feels a bit drawn out as the handful of facts are repeated ad nauseum, rarely digging past the surface of any single topic.

Fascinating (if a bit overlong) true-crime documentary

[paul-allaer · 7/10 · 18 January 2019]

"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".

Where is the victim here ??

[simonfolka · 1/10 · 4 October 2021]

I have done some research about this case, so i found this documentary both Terrible, one-sided, and disturbing. The whole thing at nearly two hours long includes far too much about this ridiculous character the girls who committed this brutal crime blamed it upon. One of them though she may be at the start of a lifelong mental illness, it is pretty obvious at the time of the crime that they both knew what they were doing was wrong. In fact they had been planning it for nearly six months prior. The stupidity of the so called experts psychiatrists and psychologists is truly baffling, in my opinion both girls at just 12 years old seemed to have manipulated the system. We have seen this before and I really hope they cannot hurt anyone else. My thoughts are with the brave victim and her family, since both the defendant's families don't seem that remorseful either. Could have been a gripping and deep look at an appalling case, felt like a sympathy plo from two highly disturbed and dangerous children.

Important look at the psychology of a horrific crime

[whitneyspotts · 8/10 · 23 June 2017]

It seems to me most of the people who don't like this movie feel that way simply because they think these girls are "evil".

I DO have sympathy for these girls because I am very familiar with schizophrenia and schizo-typo mental disorders, and can see beyond the black/white dichotomy of good and evil that people like to cling to. I thought the interviews with the parents were crucial in establishing the mind-frame of the kids at the time, as well as showing the guilt and anguish that a parent feels in the aftermath of your child committing a brutal crime. Never did I feel like the film was excusing the horrific nature of the crime, but trying to draw out how it ended up happening in the first place.

I know that people have voiced criticism that there was little on the victim - that is because the victim's family declined to participate (totally within their rights, and totally understandable). But the fact of the matter is, with cases like these, the important part is to study the perpetrators -- how do you prevent horrors like this from happening if you don't understand HOW they came to happen?

Personally, I thought the section about urban folklore, and how it can multiply rapidly on the internet to be really interesting.

I'm a true crime doc, and I thought this was well done.

Beware The Slender Man

[dariustabor-98599 · 7/10 · 13 January 2019]

I kinda enjoyed this but this should have been about the victim Payton and the girls I almost fell asleep it was boring me so much and I like Slender Man and I even know that he's not real and I still can't believe that those two girls thought he was real!

Major Disappointment - Irresponsible and Exploitive

[jwerwin80 · 3/10 · 7 March 2022]

I'm very disappointed and surprised HBO would air something this irresponsible. I was hoping this documentary would take the sensationalized story and put it into thoughtful context. Nope. Halfway into the movie there was no longer any journalistic reason to show Slenderman drawings or videos. The decision to continue to titillate with them was because the documentary needed filler - it doesn't have very much information about one of the two girls.

We learn that one of the girls is an undiagnosed schizophrenic. It turns out that she'd probably been symptomatic since she was 3 and had learned how to hide it. Her parents didn't know she had symptoms until she was put in jail for this attempted murder.

This is when I'd expect this documentary to stop talking about Slenderman and get serious. Nope - bring on more homemade Slenderman videos and kids creepy drawings.

The problem is that they don't have much to say about the other girl. There's never a detailed discussion about her motivations. As far as the court is concerned, she's a "normal adult." But she's still a 12-year-old girl who wanted to kill one of her friends and leave her to die.

There's not even a good discussion of schizophrenia. There's a great interview where her dad talks about being schizophrenic and what he lives with daily. He wonders whether his personal symptoms are similar to his daughter's? Because there was so little information about the other girl, this would have been the opportunity to bring in data - percentage of schizophrenics who commit violent crime. What will his daughter's care will be like in prison? More talk about the genetic connection in schizophrenia and what parents can do - and if the answer to that question is nothing, that should be call to action for more funding for mental health care.

It's like a 50/50-coin flip on whether this documentary does more harm than good.

SLENDERMAN´S GIRLS

[HERMANO_MANSON_DIXIT · 7/10 · 14 March 2022]

HBO documentary about the famous case of the two 12-year-old girls who tried to murder a friend, as a tribute to the character from the Creepypastas in 2009.

On May 31, 2014, in Waukesha, Wisconsin, USA, Anissa Weier and Morgan Geyser lured their friend Payton Leutner into a forest and stabbed her 19 times in an attempt to take over the fictional character Slender Man. Leutner survived and recovered. After six days hospitalized. Weier and Geyser were found not guilty for mental illness, being interned in mental health institutions with sentences of 25 and 40 years, respectively.

The documentary emphasizes the testimonies of the parents of the victimizers, but the most interesting are the images of the interrogations hours after the attack and in them you can see how convinced they were of the existence of the terrifying being and that what they did was something necessary.

The bad thing about the document is that it is from 2016 and it was released in 2017, so there is only the hearing in which a judge decided that they should be tried as adults and not as minors (remember that they were 12 years old at the time of the event ), so there is no trial that sentenced Weier to 25 years (she was paroled on September 21) the ideologue of the fact and Geyser to 40 years, after diagnosing her as schizophrenic, since she was the one who stabbed her friend.

Not enough about the girls

[lyndalu-45740 · 15 July 2017]

I was disappointed with this documentary. I wanted to learn what happened with the girls who stabbed their friend but way too much of the documentary was about Slenderman, luckily I could fast forward through all those parts. If they removed all the stuff about Slenderman I would have given this a much higher rating.

Like reading a news article

[jjadwin-94501 · 7/10 · 14 September 2018]

Theres nothing exceptional about the film making, overall it's a relatively bland documentary- however, because the topic is so very interesting, theres no way the documentary can end up being boring. It ends up being more of an informative video than an involving documentary, but that's OK.

A highly underrated documentary about the effect of mass media..

[andrewbolton-71355 · 7/10 · 2 May 2017]

First of all, I agree that the title is misleading. I'm sure that most people watching this expect to see a documentary about the Slender Man and the mythos behind it. Well sorry guys, it is more than that.

I found this documentary to be absolutely fascinating and disturbing at the same time. Sure it's long winded, but the subject matter about childhood schizophrenia is something we all need to take notice of.

In essence, this documentary is about the shock of mass media given to children at a very susceptible young age. Even one of the mothers said early on, 'I wish I hadn't given her an iPad'.

Maybe the other reviewers here already have their tablets in front of them and are reticent to admit the fact that it has already taken over their own lives.

The internet has grown exponentially out of proportion with creative input, and it is getting hard these days to whittle out what is real and what is fiction. No other generation has had this much information coming at them this fast before they are ready for it.

I think every parent should see this documentary, and then maybe re- evaluate their choices. Don't just throw at tablet at your child as their only means of social growth (I see everyday a lot of lazy parents that use it for a baby sitting tool, because they can't be assed to do it themselves).

But that all said, my partner was diagnosed schizophrenic when she was a child (it's true, it can come from your genetic background, but it's up to the parents to be smart enough to know).

So this is a great case study for people that may have children with the same disposition.

Although one message left me haunted. The children are 'given' an iPad (not just a tablet) in elementary school..

Fine. Just fine.

[educallejero · 6/10 · 6 September 2018]

I have a rule. I rate documentaries with: 7 if it is great. 6 if it is good. 5 if it is less than good.

The reason is: Docs have lower ceilling and higher floors, because they are all at least an extensive view/opinion on something (even if it is morally or factually wrong), and at most they are all edits of real life (no matter how long the doc is and how factual it is, there is subjetivity and therefore not the real thing).

This one is pretty straight. Its fine. It informs you of the situation, more or less. And that's pretty much it. There is no doubt about the situation of the girls and the reasons behind what they did. Its a proffesional job of an interesting story, but there isn't much more than that.

No sympathy......

[nkoch-74960 · 1/10 · 7 February 2017]

I think the trailer for this documentary were VERY misleading. I was so disappointed, mostly because it doesn't focus on the victim, or even, Slenderman for that matter. I felt that it was basically a forum for the suspects' families to try and justify the actions of these evil little girls. I mean, watching the interviews of the girls left me speechless at how they didn't have an OUNCE of remorse. Then, the worst part, was the interview of the grandmother of one of the girls. In my opinion, this did nothing except display at the ignorance of the parents. HBO usually kills it with documentaries in general, such as "There's something wrong with Aunt Diane". That's a awesome film. But, if you want to know more about the "Skenderman stabbing" case, watch 48 hrs.

I wanted the Slenderman to kill me after watching this

[djkeon · 1/10 · 29 December 2020]

In a global pandemic with nothing else to do and nowhere to go, this was STILL a regretful waste of two hours.

Young kids (12 isn't that young) read scary stories on the internet and have been consuming horror for as long as stories have been around. How many of them stab their friend 19 times? Just two, but apparently it's the iPad's fault.

I would guess the victim's family declined to participate, but to make no mention of that and centre the narrative exclusively around the two would-be murderers was flat wrong. Is this an in-depth look at the child psychology of two clearly disturbed children? No. Is this an in-depth look at the danger of media and technology for developing minds? Also no. Does it provide any more insight or information to the story that you can't get from an article? No.

I don't know how "spoilers" are possible when this documentary contains almost no interesting or novel content. A good documentary provides relevant information and allows the viewer to draw their own conclusions. This provided nothing except for maybe that iPads cause kids to murder their friends.

Fascinating, heartbreaking but a must watch...

[jamesashleysmith-884-910475 · 8/10 · 1 February 2017]

Beware the Slenderman is a fascinating documentary exploring the tragic stabbing of a young girl by two of her friends. The young girls became infatuated with a fictional online character (Slenderman) and believe they must kill their friend Bella or the Slenderman will kill their families. Crazy right? Well yes, but lets get to know why... and that is exactly what Irene Brodsky (director) does.

The documentary gives an insight into the act of killing, the repercussions, the crazy US justice system, the effects on family and friends and the ​issues of mental illness in children. I imagine the victims family did not want to be interview for the film but I would of been interested to contrast the families pain after this awful event.

The film is careful ​about how it challenges the​se​ subjects​,​ however does so by showing the very real and heartbreaking story of this particular case. The film is well made, brilliantly directed and challenges how we view and 'treat' mental illness. A lot of people might of been excepting a rubbish horror movie when they saw the title of this film but I can assure you this film is far more scary, distressing​ but an important watch.

pathetic

[milomooanderson · 1/10 · 2 March 2017]

This film is a joke,a sick joke at that. The majority of it is a bunch of memes put together and it contains irrelevant material to the case- they don't even cover how in the wrong the girls were. The ring leader of the situation is a textbook sociopath but they claimed there was nothing wrong with her (and 'support their claim' by saying she killed animals and was emotionless about the situation before the stabbing). There is no thought behind this,none what so ever they jumbled Marble Hornets and Tribe Twelve material altogether and describe it as some kind of cult. They blame the internet for what the girls did,but this is simply an extreme case of fanatics being fanatics. I hope the actual victim of the situation is okay and justice is served rightfully.

Way to sympathetic to monsters

[kherbert · 3/10 · 13 June 2020]

The whole documentary focuses on how hard this is for the attackers families and how mean the prosecutors are being keeping these two girls locked up. The parents of one girl ignored the fact is was obviously disturbed, knowing her father was seriously mentally ill.. The other girl's father whines The Who.e time about how hard it is for him and that the school shouldn't be issuing IPADs. The grandmother of one of the attempted murders thinks the fact they to.d the truth means the should be sent home with a pat on the head. She calls them good girls, who had never done anything wrong. Guess we should wait till they succeed at killing someone before punishing them. Why do these people have custody of their other kids? They are completely incompetent parents who should have their other kid taken from them, and have to pay restitution to the victim in the form of 100% asset forfeiture.

The good news not given in the documentary is one has a 25 years to life sentence and the other a 40 Year sentence in a mental heath facility.

So much BS

[Dave_douell · 4/10 · 28 February 2019]

I think these girls knew exactly what they were doing and just thought they could get away with it! Kids are much smarter than given credit. They have the knowledge but are still unable to make good decisions. They deserve long prison sentences. I think they had some grudge or were angry that Peyton was much prettier and more popular. They thought the whole thing out for months. If they really didn't want to do it, they would have confided In someone. All I can say is if they were really that stupid at 12 years old, they still should be locked away forever.