It didn’t take long for controversy to arise in relation to the upcoming film based on the Creepy Pasta character Slender Man.
Only a day after the trailer was released, Bill Weier, the father of one of the girls involved in the stabbing of a classmate in the name of the Slender Man character, told the Associated Press that he felt that Sony’s choice was in poor taste. Weier stated that ““It’s absurd they want to make a movie like this. It’s popularizing a tragedy is what it’s doing. I’m not surprised, but in my opinion it’s extremely distasteful. All we’re doing is extending the pain all three of these families have gone through.”
While it does not appear that the Sony film is based on the real-life case (as it does feature a supernatural monster), there is no question that the character was granted world-wide fame due to the tragedy that took place in 2014. In the case, “Annisa Weier and Morgan Geyser lured classmate Payton Leutner in 2014 to a wooded park in Waukesha, a Milwaukee suburb. There, Geyser stabbed Leutner 19 times, narrowly missing her heart, while Weier urged her on. Leutner managed to crawl out of the woods to a path where a passing bicyclist found her. She survived the attack. Weier and Geyser told detectives they had to kill Leutner to prove to Slender Man that they were worthy of being his servants as well as protect their families from him. All three girls were 12 years old at the time of the attack.”
Weier’s daughter (now 16) “…was sentenced to 25 years in a mental institution last month after pleading guilty to attempted second-degree intentional homicide.” Geyser (currently 15) is awaiting sentencing after pleading guilty to attempted first-degree intentional homicide and she could face up to forty years in a mental institution.
Sony has yet to respond to Weier’s claims or any requests from reporters.
HBO released an original documentary on the case last year entitled Beware the Slenderman, but the filmmakers were not accused of exploiting the tragedy by Weier or others involved in the case. Sony’s Slender Man will debut in theaters on May 18th.
Stay tuned to Horror News Network for more details on this controversy as the emerge.
