Beware the Slenderman

It seems to me most of the people who don't like this movie feel that way simply because they think these girls are "evil".

I DO have sympathy for these girls because I am very familiar with schizophrenia and schizo-typo mental disorders, and can see beyond the black/white dichotomy of good and evil that people like to cling to. I thought the interviews with the parents were crucial in establishing the mind-frame of the kids at the time, as well as showing the guilt and anguish that a parent feels in the aftermath of your child committing a brutal crime. Never did I feel like the film was excusing the horrific nature of the crime, but trying to draw out how it ended up happening in the first place.

I know that people have voiced criticism that there was little on the victim - that is because the victim's family declined to participate (totally within their rights, and totally understandable). But the fact of the matter is, with cases like these, the important part is to study the perpetrators -- how do you prevent horrors like this from happening if you don't understand HOW they came to happen?

Personally, I thought the section about urban folklore, and how it can multiply rapidly on the internet to be really interesting.

I'm a true crime doc, and I thought this was well done.

Others have summarized this documentary far better than I can. I will just reiterate that the movie is far too long. There is a lengthy description of folklore and horror stories, which could have been cut down considerably.

Then there are the interviews with the parents of the two perpetrators, which also could have been cut down. It seems like there is a lot of repetition.

This movie could have been tightened up and submitted as a short- subject documentary, and I think it would have been better.

I did like the courtroom sequences; however, the cases are not yet resolved. Perhaps the film-maker could have waited another six months to give the story a better conclusion? Obviously the appeals are going to drag on for years, but at least show the audience the outcome of the trials, which apparently are taking place in the spring of 2017.

I also would have liked to have heard from the victim, or a member of the victim's family.

It's like there wasn't even a victim in this story. So sad. You would have thought the two criminals were the victims. I kept waiting to see a statement about how the victim and her family declined to participate. It never came. Their voices were so painfully absent. All tangled up in all the wrong things.

Overall it was certainly interesting, even captivating. But I found myself wanting so badly to hear from poor Payton. The only victim, along with her loved ones.

It will be interesting to see how it all turns out.

All the details about how internet myths start was so scary. And how kids are being raised now is scariest of all.

Beware of the Slenderman was well-received at its world premiere at Austin's SXSW Film Festival. It is a true crime story about two 12-year-old girls who attempt to kill another young girl. The film, which will be broadcast in the near future on HBO. They are telling an intriguing story, but they try to tell too many stories. It seems obvious from the beginning that the girls are suffering from severe mental illness and that's the primary explanation for their violent behavior. Their behavior appears to be linked to mythic internet creature called Slenderman. Some of the most intellectual parts are their explorations of myth and folklore and how people come to rely on them. But then they seem to want to blame mental illness on misuse of the Internet. They don't seem to realize that there are mentally ill people who acted out violently long before there was the Internet. Long before "Slenderman" there were young people with psychological issues. And then spend a lot of time talking to the kids' troubled parents who feel responsible. And they explore the court procedures around their story. And they keep going on and on. They can't really figure out what story they are telling. At two hours the film simply goes on too long and goes off on too many tangents. They repeat their themes over and over without really getting that far. In the end, they could have told this troubling story a lot better and lot more simply. It is still an entertaining story, but it could have been a lot better.

It seems as though the victim in this, Payton Leutner, is just a footnote to this story. She was talked about very little, almost as if she were just some random classmate. I kept waiting to hear from her or her family, and when I didn't, I waited for a disclaimer that they didn't want to be interviewed, but neither happened. The film portrayed a lot of sympathy for the girls, and I have none. They had planned out this attack. Even at 12 years old, you know killing someone is wrong. But watching their families go on and on about how hard it was to be without their daughters and how it was so upsetting, it is easy to see why the girls themselves were so self-centered. They showed no remorse for killing her whatsoever. This film could have been so much better. What a disappointment.