First Slender Man Movie Trailer Brings Internet Myth To Terrifying Life

Slender Man is a fictional horror character that first appeared as a viral internet myth in 2009, which has gone onto become a notable part of modern pop culture. It's somewhat surprising that it's taken nearly a decade for an official Slender Man movie to be made, but 2018 will finally see Hollywood's take on this urban legend.

A first trailer for Slender Man has now been released. It looks like a pretty traditional teen horror movie, with disappearing teens, freaky long-haired children, spooky woods, and lots of weird, quickly cut imagery. But there are plenty of horror fans who have been waiting a long time to see the character on screen, and director Sylvian White is not a newcomer to the genre, having previously directed such horror TV shows such as The Originals and Sleepy Hollow. Check the trailer out below:

Slender Man stars Joey King (Fargo, The Flash), Annalise Basso (Electric Dreams), Julia Goldani Telles (The Affair), and Kevin Chapman (Person of Interest). Slender Man himself is played by Javier Botet, who also played a Xenomorph in Alien: Covenant and appeared in the horror blockbuster It. The movie hits theaters on May 18.

Slender Man made his first appearance as part of a Photoshop contest on the Something Awful forum. The contest required forum members to alter an existing photograph to create something scary and supernatural, with Eric Knudsen contributing two images of children being menaced by an abnormally tall, thin creature in a dark suit. Over the following years, the character has inspired creepypasta stories, fan art, memes, video games, and cosplay, as well as the 2015 HBO documentary Beware the Slenderman. In 2014, the character was also linked to the tragic murder of a 12-year-old girl in Wisconsin.