Derivative ‘Slender Man’ quickly wears thin

Joey King (left) and Julia Goldani Telles

An internet bogeyman terrorizes teens in the horror flick “Slender Man,” a visually stylish but narratively jarring film that follows the slasher formula of many cinematic chillers.

That’s disappointing, given the fact that the titular creature has taken a life of its own in various media. The Slender Man is an enigmatic fictional character that looks humanoid, has a blank face and long limbs, and often wears a dark suit. Different tales have been written about it that helped expand its lore, later seeping into the real world because of a shocking controversy—it made the news because of an actual stabbing incident involving young American girls who were supposedly influenced by the creature in 2014.

Sylvain White’s film skips that altogether, and instead follows four high school students (Joey King, Julia Goldani Telles, Jaz Sinclair and Annalise Basso) with normal concerns. But, while hanging out together one night, the bored teenagers decide to summon the otherworldly being, the Slender Man, known to certain online communities as an abductor of young people.

Visiting a mysterious website, the group is exposed to a barrage of occult symbols but are not shown Slender Man himself. They dismiss their curious dabbling, until they experience unusual things—like disturbing nightmares, paranoia and, eventually, the baffling disappearance of one of them.

“Slender Man” has stylish, flashy sensibilities working for it, but, sadly, that doesn’t always help amp up the scares. The performances, however, are adequate, if highly reminiscent of those in practically every teen-populated flick featuring unstoppable, bloodthirsty villains.

King in “Slender Man”

It gets particularly exhausting when the young characters take their sweet time figuring out the mystery by themselves. It takes forever to unravel, and this divide-and-conquer method especially grates and drones.

Another scenario, the cat-and-mouse chase between the spectral antagonist and the girls that utilizes contemporary technology—in this case, phone cameras, to show the bad guy’s perspective—reminds viewers of “Scream’s” stalking technique. But, there’s a “disconnect,” and the supposedly frightening sequences don’t always register as such.

The whole concept may have had “Blair Witch’s” air of eeriness, but that isn’t fully realized in this story. Much of the planned shockers are seen from miles away, signaled awkwardly and not always getting the desired effect. And, the poorly lit scenes are eye-straining, not to mention perplexing.

It could’ve been a chilling, thrilling hair-raiser, but it quickly wears thin, staying within the confines of a worn-out and extremely predictable horror formula.