The New Slender Man Horror Film Will Be the Stuff of Nightmares

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Remember Slender Man? Of course you do, because he's the soul distressingly terrifying meme that made grown men have to leave the hall light on in case they needed to pee in the middle of the night.

First appearing on the forums of Something Awful back in 2009 as part of a creepy Photoshop competition, he was eerily tall, dark suited, and lurking in the background of photos taken near murder scenes. If that wasn't horrible enough, his blank face allowed for the projection of our own fears, the emptiness making him ever more horrific. The character was so compelling that he ended up inspiring a whole alt universe with hundreds of people producing photos, videos featuring "found footage," and fake news reports about him. Eventually, two 12-year-old girls were charged with murder in 2014 after they claimed that Slender Man "encouraged" them to do it. And so Slender Man went from an imaginary nightmare to a very real urban legend.

Now Slender Man is getting his own film, with production set to start later this year. Production companies Screen Gems and Mythology Entertainment have reportedly obtained the rights to the horrible creature and a film is being readied for a 2017, Yahoo reports.

Mythology has acquired the rights across all platforms including film, television, video games, publishing, and more, meaning Slender Man could be destroyed through total capitalist overkill, as many franchises are. The film's lead writer is David Birke, who wrote the script for the uninspiring 13 Sins, which was pretty much Saw without the psychological excellence and torture scenes.

Hopefully, the true horror of Slender Man will shine through. Or not, whichever way you feel about it.

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