Prenez garde au Slenderman!

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.

This started off as a fascinating insight in to a horrific crime and it's young instigators but it is far too insular in its focus. By the 60 minute mark I was satisfied that the assailants motivations had been biasely justified, the whole "slenderman" and mythology in general had been thoroughly covered and I was craving for the story to expand in to the physiology of the young impressionable mind, into psychopathy (a blatantly obvious trait of at least one of the girls) and for the focus to switch to the victim and her family (in a respectful way, considering they didn't want to be involved), their complete ommission from the documentary plays out as an indifference to their horrific experience instead. I was also surprised with the multiple mentions of "believers" needing a group to belong to and the brainwashing involved in that dynamic, that the documentary makers weren't brave enough to bring up religion in that discussion (especially as a world leading expert on the subject Richard Dawkins was on a Skype call at one point)... But no they only used santa clause and the tooth fairy as examples.

Beware the Slenderman is a fascinating documentary exploring the tragic stabbing of a young girl by two of her friends. The young girls became infatuated with a fictional online character (Slenderman) and believe they must kill their friend Bella or the Slenderman will kill their families. Crazy right? Well yes, but lets get to know why... and that is exactly what Irene Brodsky (director) does.

The documentary gives an insight into the act of killing, the repercussions, the crazy US justice system, the effects on family and friends and the ​issues of mental illness in children. I imagine the victims family did not want to be interview for the film but I would of been interested to contrast the families pain after this awful event.

The film is careful ​about how it challenges the​se​ subjects​,​ however does so by showing the very real and heartbreaking story of this particular case. The film is well made, brilliantly directed and challenges how we view and 'treat' mental illness. A lot of people might of been excepting a rubbish horror movie when they saw the title of this film but I can assure you this film is far more scary, distressing​ but an important watch.

While the documentary seeks to explore several themes around mental health, modern folklore, bullying, and modern technology's role in adolescent development and parenting it seldom finds a coherent thread to pull them together in any meaningful way. The film starts interestingly enough exploring the story of two adolescent girls who are pending trial as adults for the attempted murder of their friend. This in and of itself would make for a compelling case study on mandatory laws surrounding the subject of violent crimes committed by minors. Add to that the fact that the girls committed this act to gain the favor of a modern fictional boogeyman named Slenderman, and we now have the potential for an even more compelling discussion around mental health, the internet's influence on child development, modern parenting and any number of related topics. Unfortunately, this is where the narrative seems to stall with the filmmakers doing little more than exploring the folklore of Slenderman and how the girls' mutual status as outsiders may have led them to seek acceptance through belief in the fictional being. Though the filmmakers make several attempts to explore other themes including mental health (which arguably should be the central narrative), they seldom make it past a cursory examination of the facts as they exist, and attempt to draw little to no conclusion about how these facts should influence the outcome of the still pending trial. Perhaps this stance, or lack there-of, is out of respect for the victim in this tragic case, which is surprisingly absent through most of the discussion. The result however, is a story that would be thought provoking as a 30 minute true-crime new story, but feels a bit drawn out as the handful of facts are repeated ad nauseum, rarely digging past the surface of any single topic.

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.