Beware The Slenderman

Tragically sometimes a documentary has to be made to tell us the bad news.

They always say its all fun and games till someone gets hurt and that is the recent case with our internet habits. Sometimes we get so into things that we blur the lines between reality and fiction with disasterous results. 

I admit that yes I am into Creepypastas in the fact that I love a good scary story and in the words of 1978's Halloween "Everyone is entitled to One Good Scare". 

The subject of Beware The Slenderman is the events of 

Lucky for all parties involved there were no deaths in this tragedy, which is a sad state of affairs in our society today. 

Now first off...What is Slenderman? 

I am not here to debunk the myth because quite frankly I've seen Candyman enough times that I know what not to mess with but I will do my best to explain...without Spoilers as well. 

Essentially Slenderman is an internet creepypasta character that has achieved quite a following, so much in fact that many believe that the character is real. 

Depicted as a tall man in a black suit and tie with a featureless face and in other cases hidden tentacles and often in he company of children. An internet boogie man of sorts. 

The brand new documentary from HBO follows a tragic case where a couple of girls stabbed a friend in an attempt to appease Slenderman and the aftermath. The victim being Payton Leutner and the perpetrators being her two best friends Anissa Weier and Morgan Geyser.

Academy Award nominated Irene Taylor Brodsky not only tells the story of Slenderman and the case but looks into an explanation of the phenomena and how it could appeal to the young and lead to the tragedy. 

Looking at folklore such as Grimm Fairytales and especially the case of the Pied Piper and the linking of the tales to The Slenderman. All of this while taking a look at the psychology of a child and why this would appeal to them making   Slenderman an imaginary friend rather than a Boogieman. 

The documentary also focuses on the families of the accused in a search for awnsers to the many questions. 

I particularly liked he cinematography of this documentary and the flow that it maintained and the putting a human face on the attackers. 

I know that there are some controversies with the production of this documentary but due to the subject matter that can be expected. 

All in all I feel it is worth a look.