The story of the so-called “Slenderman stabbing” in Wisconsin isn’t the most grisly crime in recent American history (or even Wisconsin history), but it’s certainly one of the more haunting ones. A few years ago, two 12-year-old girls tried to stab their friend to death to appease the fictional internet monster known as Slenderman. Though the victim survived, the severity of the attack drove the state to decide that the girls should be tried as adults—with apparently little regard for the psychological factors that would not only make a pair of girls think this character was real, but to also convince them to try and murder a friend in his name.
HBO and filmmaker Irene Taylor Brodsky have made a documentary about the incident called Beware The Slenderman, and now the premium cable network has announced that the film will premiere on January 23. A press release says it will go beyond the horror of the attack to explain how “adolescent isolation, mental health issues, and the nebulous reality of the internet” can combine to make “a chilling mandate for two young girls.”
HBO released a trailer for Beware The Slenderman back in November.