At least two movie theaters in Wisconsin, near where a 12-year-old girl was nearly stabbed to death by friends in an attack to honor ‘Slender Man,’ have refused to show a new horror film inspired by the fictional character.
Representatives for the Avalon Theater and Fox Bay Cinema Grill, both located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, told KTLA that they will not be showing the film, titled Slender Man.
‘That’s hitting a little too close to home,’ owner of Fox Bay Cinema Grill, Roman Kelly, said. ‘I just don’t see us bringing it in to view because I don’t know the people in Milwaukee want to see a movie about that — given what’s happened.’
Two movie theaters in Milwaukee, Wisconsin have refused to show the new horror film Slender Man, due out in May (movie poster pictured above)
The Avalon (left) and the Fox Bay Cinema Grill (right) will not show the film out of respect for a local community that was rocked by a murder inspired by Slender Man
Mark Struke, who works on programming at the Avalon, added: ‘It’s a little bit fresh for the community to just play a basic horror film that involves this tragedy.’
The two theaters are located just over 20 miles from Waukesha, where the attack that introduced Slender Man to the greater world happened in 2014.
Anissa Weier and Morgan Geyser lured classmate Leutner to a wooded park, where 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.
Payton Leutner (above) was stabbed 19 times in woods in Waukesha, Wisconsin in 2014 by two of her friends
Anissa Weier (left in her 2014 mugshot when she was 12) was arrested alongside Morgan Geyser (right) in 2014
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 (above, Payton being rushed to the hospital after 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.
Geyser, now 15, pleaded guilty to attempted first-degree intentional homicide in a deal with prosecutors, who have asked she get at least 40 years in a mental hospital when she’s sentenced in February.
Weier, now 16, was sentenced to 25 years in a mental institution last month after pleading guilty to attempted second-degree intentional homicide.
Weier’s parents have stood by her through her arrest and trial. They told Good Morning America previously that their daughter wholeheartedly believed in the character and wanted to prove it when she attacked Payton.
When Sony recently released a trailer for the new Slender Man movie, which tells the story of his legend, Weier’s father spoke out and said he didn’t think the film was appropriate.
Weier (pictured in court in 2016) was recently sentenced to 25 years in a mental hospital for the attempted murder of Leutner
Geyser (above in September) is now facing 40 years in a mental institution
Her father Bill Weier (pictured in court in 2016) said he hopes local theaters won’t show the movie when it’s released in May
‘It’s absurd they want to make a movie like this,’ he told Associated Press. ‘It’s popularizing a tragedy is what it’s doing.’
‘I’m not surprised but in my opinion it’s extremely distasteful.’
He added that the Slender Man movie was just ‘extending the pain all three of these families have gone through.’
The film is set to be released on May 18.
Already, there is a petition circulating online, calling for Sony to cancel the film’s release.
As of Friday afternoon, the petition had more than 5,700 signatures of its intended 6,000 goal.
The Sony production, entitled ‘Slender Man,’ marks the first full-length feature built around the character
In one scene of the movie, a wall is covered with drawings of Slender Man
The film plot is described as: ‘Terror strikes when unsuspecting victims cross paths with a tall, thin, horrifying figure known as the Slender Man’
The father of one of the girls who tried to kill a classmate, and has since been sentenced to 25 years in a mental hospital, says the movie is in extremely poor taste
The creepy character of Slender Man is a fairly recent invention. He was conjured up by Eric Knudson, as part of an online art contest, as a mysterious specter photo-edited into everyday images of children at play.
The image became a popular internet meme and inspired creepypasta – an online trove of horror stories based on it.
He’s typically depicted as a slim, spidery figure in a black suit with a featureless white face that preys on children. He has grown into a popular boogeyman and has appeared in video games and online stories.
The Sony production, entitled ‘Slender Man,’ marks the first full-length feature built around the character. The picture is directed by Sylvain White, who also helmed 2007’s ‘Stomp the Yard,’ and stars Javier Botet as Slender Man.
The studio released a trailer for the horror movie Wednesday.
The film is not based on the girl’s case, but the legend of Slender Man himself.
WHO IS SLENDER MAN? THE ONLINE MYTH ‘THE GIRLS BELIEVED’
Unnerving: The Slender Man with one of his chosen victims as depicted in a popular meme
The Slender Man is a fictional character that originated in an online art contest in 2009, before becoming a popular meme.
The mythical creature is often depicted as an unnaturally tall, thin figure with a blank, featureless face, wearing a black suit.
The character is said to have creepily long, tentacle-like arms, which can be extended to capture prey.
It is described as stalking, abducting and traumatizing children, and – depending on variations of the urban legend – can cause memory loss, insomnia and paranoia.
It is also said to be able to create distortions in photographs and teleport.
The character is understood to have originated in a Photoshop contest on the forums of comedy website Something Awful in 2009.
It then went viral, with numerous works of fan art and short scary stories – known as ‘creepypasta’ – published online.
The character has developed its own life online, with two feature-length films funded in part by Kickstarter appearing in 2012, along with many amateur video games and pop-culture references.