When is Beware the Slenderman on HBO, who is the Slenderman and what’s the documentary about?
IT originated as an internet meme but soon became the stuff of nightmares – and the inspiration behind a gruesome attempted murder.
HBO has delved into the origins and the myth behind the supernatural character The Slender Man in a chilling documentary.
But what do we know about the documentary and will it give us nightmares?
Who is The Slender Man?
The Slender Man, also known as Slenderman, was created as an internet meme through the Something Awful forums.
Depicted as a very tall, very thin, faceless man in a black suit, he was developed through a thread on the forum which asked users to edit every day photographs to appear paranormal.
One user, called Victor Surge- real name Eric Knudsen - added a tall spectral figure to black and white images of groups of children which he captioned with text which were supposedly from witnesses describing the abductions of children and naming the character The Slender Man.
Knudsen’s intention was to “formulate something whose motivations can barely be comprehended, and [which caused] unease and terror in a general population”.
His creation soon went viral as fan art and online fiction followed on.
What is the documentary about?
Beware the Slenderman looks into the 2014 stabbing of of a 12-year-old girl called Payton Leutner in Wisconsin, USA.
She was lured into a park by two classmates – Morgan Geyser and Anissa Weier - who stabbed her 19 times and fled, leaving her for dead.
Leutner survived and her attackers were arrested and charged with attempted first-degree intentional homicide.
Geyser and Weier claimed they had discovered the Slenderman online and believed him to be real.
They told police they wanted to prove their loyalty to him and become his followers.
Weier’s parents have explained the duo’s actions, saying they wanted to “prove Slender man was real”.
They said they believed the only way to become a follower of the character was to murder someone – after this, they claimed they thought they would be his servants and live in his mansion.
The girls will face trial in Spring 2017.
When is the documentary on HBO?
Beware the Slender Man is an HBO documentary about the gruesome case.
The documentary explores how the legend became a focal point in the attempted murder investigation.
Beware the Slenderman aired on HBO on January 23 2017 and is available to watch on Sky Atlantic.
The programme has received an admirable 88 per cent rating by fans on review site Rotten Tomatoes.
Is there a trailer?
HBO released the first trailer for the programme and can be viewed below or on YouTube.
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HBO release first trailer for Slenderman documentary
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