The King of Creepypasta made his feature film debut when Sony’s Slender Man hit US Theaters nationwide last Friday. The movie has received mostly tepid reviews with many fans and critics finding it a formulaic, horror-by-numbers affair. But how much of the film’s restraint is a response to fears of misguided backlash?
When the project was announced last winter, the father of a pre-teen who attempted murder in 2014 (in an effort to curry favor with the fictional Slender Man) called the film distasteful and accusing the studio of attempting to capitalize on a real-life tragedy. Now, the folks at Bloody Disgusting have confirmed that fear of backlash gave studio execs cold feet, enough so to dial the terror back from an envelope-pushing R rating to a sterile PG-13.
“Our sources confirm that several major scenes from the film were completely removed by the studio leading up to this past weekend’s release. Slender Man, as presented to audiences, isn’t a complete film; many of the striking scenes that were teased in the first trailer, like one of the characters stabbing her eyes out, or another ripping her tongue out after encountering Slender Man in the woods, are completely missing from the film.”
Whether or not we’ll get the full Slender when the film arrives on Blu-ray/DVD remains to be seen. If you’re on the fence, you can check out the trailer and synopsis for Slender Man below.
Synopsis:
Small-town best friends Hallie, Chloe, Wren and Katie go online to try and conjure up the Slender Man — a tall, thin, horrifying figure whose face has no discernible features. Two weeks later, Katie mysteriously disappears during a class trip to a historic graveyard. Determined to find her, the girls soon suspect that the legend of the Slender Man may be all too real.
Slender Man was invented by Victor Surge. The film is directed by Sylvain White from a script penned by David Birke and stars Joey King, Julia Goldani Telles, and Jaz Sinclair.
Words: Josh Millican (@josh_millican)
