Published on 12, July, 2020
Many of you will probably be aware of the 'Slenderman' phenomenon. 'Slenderman' was created as part of a PhotoShop competition in 2009, whose remit was to create convincing and frightening paranormal figures. He's a very simple figure: an extremely tall man, dressed in a dark suit with shirt and tie. He's faceless, too - perhaps his most striking and sinister feature. Sometimes, he's depicted with tentacles spiraling out of his back. He lives in a mansion deep in a dark forest. He stalks children and takes them back to his mansion - either to kill them, or to keep them as 'proxies': personal servants who are dedicated to him.
Since his creation as an image, 'Slenderman' has developed into a powerful urban myth. The mythology has spread around the world via the internet - especially through sites like Creepypasta Wiki, where stories and images were first posted. He's very much an archetype, found throughout mythology and folk tales, and across cultures. Think of figures like Dracula, Frankenstein's monster, the Boogey-man, The Thing, Melmoth, the Wandering Jew, the Yeti, the Sasquatch, etc. Perhaps the closest model would be the Grimm's brothers' fairy tale The Pied Piper of Hamelin. The Pied Piper was a strange figure who turned up out of nowhere to help the citizens of Hamelin with their rat problem. He lured the rats away to their deaths with a pipe tune. The town councillors had promised to reward him for this. But they cheated him. So... he got his own back by playing another tune and luring all of the town's children away with him to a secret mountain, where he kept them. 'Slenderman' is similar to the Pied Piper in that his intentions are enigmatic and uncertain. Is he acting for good or evil? Or both? Perhaps the most important and powerful thing about him is that he can be whatever anyone wants him to be. He can be different things to different people. Creepypasta Wiki reflects this, with the users posting their own interpretations in images, home videos, and fan fiction. He taps into all sorts of human fears and insecurities... and also our need, perhaps, for some kind of superhero figure or monster to believe in. He's usually seen in images and videos as a furtive figure, lurking in the background. Is he merely observing at a distance? Or is he coming to get you? With no facial expression to go on... who knows?
The power of this myth, and the way it can lead people to blur the lines between reality and fiction, can be compared to something like the character of Sherlock Holmes. Holmes was created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in the late 19th century. We know this. If he had existed as a real person, he'd be dead now, anyway. Either that or he'd be a highly improbable 160 or so years of age. But again, he didn't exist. And yet... people still write to him from around the world at his fictional address of 221b Baker Street!
As we know, the people most susceptible to believing in such myths are normally children. Santa Claus. The Tooth Fairy. Superman. It's powerful stuff to them. You may also, therefore, be aware of the recent case in the US, where two young girls - Morgan Geyser and Anissa Weier - have been tried for the attempted murder of a friend of theirs, Payton Leutner. All three girls were twelve at the time of the incident, in 2014. Geyser and Weier (who were complicit in the plan) lured Leutner into some woods, where Geyser stabbed her 19 times. They then ran off and left her. Leutner miraculously survived the attack and was found. The other two were later arrested walking along a highway. During the investigation, it came out that both girls had been obsessed with the 'Slenderman' stories and firmly believed in his existence. They maintained they committed the act to protect their families, because they had come to believe that 'Slenderman' was going to kill them. When they left Leutner after the attack, they were supposed to be making their way to the forest that they believed 'Slenderman' lived in. They wanted to find his mansion, tell him what they had done to appease him, and live with him as 'proxies'.
It's a very sad, disturbing and distressing case. Geyser, it transpires, is schizophrenic. She inherited it from her father - though hers is a far more severe condition. She had delusions and hallucinations, and was incapable of separating fact from fiction. Weier was a loner. An introverted child without friends, who found escape in her iPad, where she discovered 'Slenderman'. When she met Geyser, they became inseparable, and shared the obsession. Both girls are still only 15, but were tried under the adult jurisdiction. Geyser has been committed to 40 years in a mental institution, Weier to 25 years. The outcome, too, has thrown computer use for young children into a harsh spotlight. I won't comment on that. It all gets covered in this remarkable documentary about the case. If you can steel yourselves to watch it, it's a fascinating insight into the power of myth - and perhaps a wake-up call about where technology might be taking our children if it shuts them off from the world, or if they escape into it if the world shuns them.
Beware The Slenderman
One of my students showed me Slenderman.
Personally speaking I find him an intriguing meme. I love classy horror films with an arty edge - The Babadook comes to mind. I wonder who first designed Slenderman.
I did hear about what happened in the US though. I have also been told more than once about something even more charming - Blue Whale. By children in each case. Something to be aware of.
Creepypasta is an interesting meme sub genre. One old one that springs to mind is Ben Drowned, think the Ring meets Legend of Zelda.
Going back to the Slenderman case, I think that Geyser may have been very immersed in internet sub-culture. Back in 2004 there was a case in Japan called the Sasebo slashing (Nevada-Tan) which was similar to the Slederman killing, this became a "meme" in some parts of the internet. I think Geyser may have found some kind of inspiration from this. The killer in the Saesbo slashing was a girl around the same age who was obsessed with a flash horror animation called "the red room", this was linked to the motivation in the case. Sadly the Japanese authorities diagnosed the girl with Aspergers during the trial, which gave it a very negative stigma in Japan.
I think Geyser was inspired by the Sasebo slashing, especially with the whole sub-culture within some of the sites where Slenderman first gained popularity. I enjoy a good creepypasta but I think blaming a murder on creepypasta is a little simple. I do think Geyser probably followed a trail of breadcrumbs which contained internet sub-culture with some very dark content, she found out about Nevada-Tan's fame within the said sub-culture and Slenderman entered the equation somewhere. All very sad stuff really but video nasties were a thing once and a lot of things were linked to them. Now movies like Saw are pretty mainstream and big business. I think cases like this are just a lot of things aligning at the wrong time with the wrong people and tragedy hits.
Dweezil Zappa was in the Running Man he's one of the resistance fighters at the end. Moon Unit Zappa's music career wasn't as good as her fathers........... https://youtu.be/Qb21lsCQ3EM . Very, very 80's retro styling though! BTW if I have a girl I'm calling her Yoghurtpot Suplex
Some parents! If only they gave a little more thought to the names they're lumbering their kids with. Moon Unit Zappa and Dweezil Zappa spring to mind...
I don't think he was pleased at The Thin White Duke's choice of name! He changed it to Duncan the minute he hit 16!
Clint Mansell was in Pop Will Eat Itself, it amazes me the direction his career has taken since then! Mansell and Aronfsky pretty much collaborate everytime Aronofsky makes a movie. Right from Pi in 1998. Requiem For A Dream is a great book too. Definitely "shades of Krokodil"! I've seen a dope abcess IRL, it stank as bad as it looked. Sorry too many details!
Moon was good. I'll give anything with Sam Rockwell a try and Moon didn't dissappoint. I like films with a small cast. It's far more interesting sometimes. The claustrophobic nature of the setting and the way it made the emphasis more on acting and plot was very refreshing in Moon.
I liked Blue Velvet too. It was a more tame movie compared to some of Lynch's other work. Lost Highway is one that I like. The party scene was creepy af!
Born Zowie Bowie! Moon was a treat. Fairly referential on places but that is no bad thing. He is onto his third now I think.
I liked Moon, and love that score. Yes... Duncan Brown. Or Zowie Bowie!
I watched Requiem for a Dream, not sure if You Tube have taken it down now. I liked the music by Mansell on it, as it kept coming up on different things uploaded. It certainly makes its point on what addiction can do. Shades of krokodil at the end.
Talking of Mansell, he did the score of a nice little SF flick, called Moon. David Bowie's son directed it.
Someone I know has a Lynch collection, not Erazorhead though. That's classic but it is certainly pretty sick. I liked Blue Velvet too.
Lynch has a thing about static, machinery noice, and tones that fall in a certain range within the sound design of his films. It's always meant to be unnerving, it always makes me think he's ASD. They are the sorts of things that could make him feel nervous. Gaspar Noe made Irreversible and the sound design on that is terrifying. BTW Irreversible isn't a movie I'd reccommend it's very violent, not gore violence. Sexually violent, to a pretty far extreme. Darren Aronofsky also seems to fall into the directors that I suspect are ASD. Pi and Requeim For a Dream have scene and segments that are very close to sensory discomfort. The end of Requiem is like an overload.
It does make you wonder though, if someone can nail the senses in such a way that relates to our experience if they are on the spectrum themselves. IMO Lynch certainly is.
Everything coming at you at once! I do see what you mean.
No problem! I hope you enjoy any of the movies you watch! Oh and on the subject of Lynch, listen to a Lynch movie through headphones. The sound design is really like being close to overload at times. Watch this scene from Fire Walk With Me. It just smacks of ASD https://youtu.be/Ogqah6gc9ww . I'm just going to watch the Babadook!
Thank you Cloudy Mountain, there are a few things to be getting on with. David Lynch is brilliant. I never heard that Kubrick was ASD. I did like Clockeork Orange. t
I've never watched the Blair Witch project! I'll watch it next time it's on. One found footage film I found very unsettling was The Poughkeepsie Tapes, very nasty themes. Grave Encounters was another found footage one a little hokey but still a bit of scary fun.
Event Horizon was a good sci-fi/horror cross. Very clever idea. Won't give too much away but give it a try.
I always find David Lynch and Tarkovsky creepy. The surrealist thing is terrifying at times. Tarkovsky used light and texture in an unsettling way. I always wonder if they are ASD. I know Kubrick was. All three seem to be able to put a shot together that is very unsettling but in a deeply sensory way, for instance the corridors in The Shining or the Radiator Lady in Eraserhead. Tarkovsky even makes mud "feel" nasty in a few shots.
The Cell is a pretty strange creepy movie. Visually it's different to anything else. A good watch if you can put up with Jennifer Lopez's bad acting. Tarsem Singh the guy who directed it made a film called The Fall. It's one of the best films I've seen. It's about a story a guy tells a little girl but you see it from her imagination. It looks beautiful and the story is different to anything else I've seen.
American Psycho was great. I found the dialogue hilarious. Very dark humour and adult content, but how can you not like a film where a guy is lecturing prostitutes about how Genesis was better after Peter Gabriel left the group. The book is much darker and there are a few more disturbing parts the movie left out, the film however is hilarious in parts. The part with the business card is hilarious too.
The Thing is a complete classic. The visual effects were all practical, Rob Bottin is a genius. His work on the effects still look great to this day, better than a lot of todays CGI. The soundtrack is great too, Morricone using 80's synths is minimal but sinister.
Aliens is one of my favourite films ever. A cross between an action movie, sci-fi, and horror. It's one of the peaks of mainstream film.
Shutter Island was also "meh" in my opinion. I was very disappointed. Scorcese directing and a good cast but it was just a glossy mess imo.
It's pretty horrible. Another film I found terrifying was After Lucia, a Mexican movie. The theme of people being the "monster" was more scary. Again there's no horror or gore, just cruel people. The book of American Psycho was far more insidious than the film, the films funny imo.
I think they also overdo the monster when it emerges. Less is more I think.
The Blair Witch Project was good because it was all about shadows, things inferred.
One of the best films I ever watched was the TV version of the Woman in Black. So much more subtle than the Harry Potter version.
Alien is brilliant. Some of the sequels almost reach that standard, others not so. I have plenty of time for SF and noir too. One recent gem, both book and film, was Never Let me Go.
I read 'American Psycho'. Yes, it's pretty sadistic with the violence - but I came to the conclusion that it was all a fantasy of the narrator. The film is worth watching.
I'm not a big fan of horror films. I always think they miss something. Maybe it's when you actually get to see the monster or whatever. 'The Shining' was a failure in comparison to the book, I think. I liked the TV mini-series of 'Salem's Lot', though. Favourites in the genre would have to be 'The Thing' (both the first version, then the John Carpenter version) and - without a doubt - 'Alien' and 'Aliens'. I agree about the cliches in most horror or ghost films. I think it's what you don't see that's scarier. That's why I quite liked 'The Blair Witch Project'.
I find the Slenderman figure quite creepy, and it's that 'unknown' thing about him, as has been suggested. He seems at once both innocent and harmless, and sinister and threatening.
The best recent film I saw that I found quite disturbing is 'Nightcrawler', starring a very emaciated Jake Gyllenhaal. 'The Machinist', too - starring an equally emaciated Christian Bale, is an excellent psychological thriller with horror movie tropes. People rave about 'Shutter Island'. I've tried watching it twice, and switched it off each time. I think it's a mess.
It does sound horrific. I know someone who bought the book American Psycho, but he could not finish it because of its sadistic violence. It is supposed to be a satire on 80's materialism.
Always looking for good film ideas.
Often we build up our fears early! The scariest film I've ever seen was In The Company of Men. No one gets killed, stabbed or are there any assaults done. It's terribly cruel though. A sociopath ruining peoples lives with emotional manipulation. Chilling.
There are probably lots of antecedents that could have influenced her. I remember, as a young child (about 6 or 7), accidentally seeing the scene from Psycho where Janet Leigh is stabbed in the shower. It was being shown on a TV programme, Cinema, late one night. This was in the early 60s. My parents were watching it, and I'd got up and crept upstairs. They didn't realise I was standing in the room behind them until I cried out in horror at what I was seeing. That scene haunted me for a long time, and I obsessed over the idea of people being stabbed to death. Even now, when I hear of a 'knife crime', it always strikes me with more horror than any other form of violent crime.