History YMMV / SlenderMan

* HilariousInHindsight: Around 2010, Creator/LittleKuriboh released [[https://youtu.be/Xj6F_piB_HE "Concrete Giraffes"]], which ended with a Slender Man movie being produced (along with Joey proclaiming that Hollywood has officially run out of ideas). Eight years later, and Sony releases an actual Slender Man movie. [[https://youtu.be/TKijnKthJpI Naturally, LittleKuriboh took the opportunity to have Marik and Bakura comment on this.]]

* IdiotPlot: The ''whole reason'' Slender Man even bothers with the main cast is because they decide to summon him on a whim. [[SchmuckBait Even though they were constantly warned against doing so]].

** The main villain of ''WesternAnimation/OverTheGardenWall'', The Beast, is frequently compared to Slender Man for being an ominous, faceless silhouette-figure who hides in the woods and preys on children. This movie's version of the Operator turns out to have the same modus operandi as the Beast, [[spoiler: turning his victims into trees.]]

* TooSoon: The film received a lot of criticism for seeming to exploit the publicity of the Slender Man stabbing in Waukesha, WI and its subsequent trial. The movie began to be developed two years after the stabbing, and was released in theaters eight months after the sentencing. Because of this, many theaters in Waukesha and the surrounding area refused to show the movie.

* OvershadowedByControversy: Slender Man had largely fallen out of favor in the years prior to 2018, not least because of Slender Man stabbing from 2014. This unsurprisingly painted a target on the film, especially due to one of the trailers featuring scenes roughly similar to said incident, causing many to label it as being in poor taste; theaters in the area where it happened refused to show the film to respect the families of who it happened to. Said scenes actually appear to have been removed from the final cut, leading to speculation of Sony attempting damage control. This has a side effect of making the plot incomprehensible at times, with major characters suddenly disappearing without any explanation.

** Then there's Wren. While there isn't much to be said about her, she tries to sacrifice Lizzy to the Slender Man [[DirtyCoward to save her own neck]] and she's only called out on it once, and that was briefly.

** The main villain of ''WesternAnimation/OverTheGardenWall'', The Beast, is frequently compared to the Slender Man for being an ominous, faceless silhouette-figure who hides in the woods and preys on children. This movie's version of the Operator turns out to have the same modus operandi as the Beast, [[spoiler: turning his victims into trees.]]

* OvershadowedByControversy: Slender Man had largely fallen out of favor in the years prior to 2018, not least because of the Slender Man stabbing from 2014. This unsurprisingly painted a target on the film, especially due to one of the trailers featuring scenes roughly similar to said incident, causing many to label it as being in poor taste; theaters in the area where it happened refused to show the film to respect the families of who it happened to. Said scenes actually appear to have been removed from the final cut, leading to speculation of Sony attempting damage control. This has a side effect of making the plot incomprehensible at times, with major characters suddenly disappearing without any explanation.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: Putting ''aside'' the criticism that the film was released long after the Slender Man hype died away, a movie itself based on Slender Man and taking the established mythos and playing around with those tropes into something new (ala ''WebVideo/MarbleHornets'') would have given the film a boost, albeit a little troublesome considering the [[OvershadowedByControversy implications of the character following the 2014 incident]], but alas.

* VanillaProtagonist: The main characters are this ''to a fault''. It's made painfully apparent that the Slender Man is the focal point of the movie, rather than the main characters who are trying to deal with him. To elaborate, Halley's defining character trait is "sports" and "dating football love interest", Wren's character is "nervous" (after a while), Lizzy's character is "naive", and Katie's is "occult".

* TooSoon: The film received a lot of criticism for seeming to exploit the publicity of the Slender Man stabbing in Waukesha, WI and its subsequent trial. The movie began to be developed two years after the stabbing, and was released in theaters 8 months after the sentencing. Because of this, many theaters in Waukesha and the surrounding area refused to show the movie.
%% * VanillaProtagonist: The main characters are this ''to a fault''. It's made painfully apparent that the Slender Man is the focal point of the movie, rather than the main characters who are trying to deal with him. To elaborate, Halley's defining character trait is "sports" and "dating football love interest", Wren's character is "nervous" (after a while), Lizzy's character is "naive", and Katie's is "occult".

%% * {{Narm}}:
%% ** Wren [[NervousWreck frantically]] explaining Slender Man as being analogous to a computer virus in a ''human'' brain.

%% ** During the date scene between Hallie and Tom. We are treated to a rather uncomfortable scene of them making out, only for Hallie to suddenly hallucinate Tom having an exaggerated angry face while his head spazzes out. [[BigLippedAlligatorMoment This is never elaborated on or brought up again]].

* UnfortunateImplications: Less than a day after the first trailer was even released, the film was [[https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/movies/2018/01/03/slender-man-movie-reactions/1002527001/ immediately accused of cashing in on the above-mentioned Slender Man stabbings]] given how the trailer featured a few scenes that bore some similarities to the incident (such as as girl stabbing herself in the middle of a classroom [[BrainwashedAndCrazy under the Slender Man's presumed control]] and drawings that resemble those made by one of the schoolgirls). All movie theaters in the area where it happened refused to show the film.

* {{Narm}}: Many scenes in the movie count, such as:
** Wren [[NervousWreck frantically]] explaining Slender Man as being analogous to a computer virus in a ''human'' brain.

** [[BigBad Slender Man himself]]; while the prospect of a demon [[SuperPersistentPredator hunting you down endlessly]] is a terrifying (albeit simple) prospect in of itself, the fact that Slender Man [[WhenTreesAttack is basically just a sentient tree]] and the fact that he [[{{Irony}} uses FaceTime]] diminishes what little menace he had to begin with.
** When Hallie attempts a HeroicSacrifice in the climax, she [[DirtyCoward immediately backs out screaming]] when Slender Man obliges her.
** During the date scene between Hallie and Tom. We are treated to a rather uncomfortable scene of them making out, only for Hallie to suddenly hallucinate Tom having an exaggerated angry face while his head spazzes out. [[BigLippedAlligatorMoment This is never elaborated on or brought up again]].
** The ''opening scenes'' before Slender Man even arrives. The main characters speak [[TotallyRadical in everything short of "hashtags"]] and their friendship feels rather robotic. Hell, the whole ''reason'' Slender Man started coming after them was because [[WhatAnIdiot they decided to summon him]] ''[[ItAmusedMe on a whim]]''.
** The entire reveal of what Slender Man ''does'' to his victims, namely [[spoiler:turning them into trees]]; aside from the fact that [[ShockingSwerve it comes entirely out of nowhere]] and breaks the mystery behind the question, this left many fans joking about how [[spoiler:Slender Man is a tree-hugger trying to save the environment]].

* SnarkBait: The film has been negatively received by critics and audiences alike for being a film based on [[Franchise/TheSlenderManMythos an Internet phenomenon]] that had fallen out of popularity in about 2014 (which wasn't helped by the infamous [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slender_Man_stabbing Slender Man stabbing]] incident) and was most popular in 2012 to 2014, and also for failing to be a good horror movie. The fact that Sony released [[WesternAnimation/TheEmojiMovie another highly-reviled movie]] that was based on a popular trend that could become similarly dated (and had also released some of the Internet's [[Film/{{Pixels}} similarly]] [[Film/Ghostbusters2016 hated]] [[Film/PeterRabbit movies]]) certainly didn't help. It currently holds a 7% on Website/RottenTomatoes and a 3.4 on [=IMDb=].
-->'''Rotten Tomatoes critics' consensus''': ''Slender Man'' might be thin, but he's positively robust compared to the flimsy assortment of scares generated by the [[NightmareRetardant would-be chiller]] that bears his name.

** Hallie is ''[[AloofBigBrother painfully]]'' [[AloofBigBrother aloof]] towards her sister, to the point of refusing to let her hang out with her and her friends despite the fact that it's been made apparent that she had promised to let her do so multiple times, and in the end when she offers to let [[BigBad Slender Man]] take her for the sake of her sister, she runs screaming when the titular villain obliges her.

** [[BigBad Slender Man himself]]; while the prospect of a demon [[SuperPersistentPredator hunting you down endlessly]] is a terrifying (albeit simple) prospect in in of itself, the fact that Slender Man [[WhenTreesAttack is basically just a sentient tree]] and the fact that he [[{{Irony}} uses FaceTime]] diminishes what little menace he had to begin with.

* SnarkBait: The film has been negatively received by critics and audiences alike for being a film based on [[Franchise/TheSlenderManMythos an Internet phenomenon]] that had fallen out of popularity in about 2014 (which wasn't helped by the infamous [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slender_Man_stabbing Slender Man stabbing]] incident) and was most popular in 2012 to 2014, and also for failing to be a good horror movie. The fact that Sony released [[WesternAnimation/TheEmojiMovie another highly-reviled movie]] that was based on a popular trend that could become similarly dated certainly didn't help. It currently holds a 7% on Website/RottenTomatoes and a 3.4 on [=IMDb=].

* CriticProof: A mild case. The film was panned by critics and audiences alike, but it managed to make $30 million domestically and [[https://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=slenderman.htm $48.9 million]] worldwide against a $10 million budget.

* CriticProof: A mild case. The film has been panned by critics and audiences alike, but it has managed to make [[https://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=slenderman.htm $22.7 million]] worldwide against a $10 million budget so far.

** Lizzy [[GoMadFromTheRevelation going insane]] over the fact that [[TheFaceless Slender Man had no face]], as it's highly unlikely anyone would go mad from that. Likewise, Wren suddenly finding herself caught up in a hallucination where ''she'' has no face, and stumbling around comically.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: Putting ''aside'' the criticism that the film was released late past the Slender Man hype, a movie itself based on Slender Man and taking the established mythos and playing around with those tropes into something new (ala ''WebVideo/MarbleHornets'') would have given the film a boost, albeit a little troublesome considering the [[OvershadowedByControversy implications of the character following the 2014 incident]], but alas.

** The ''opening scenes'' before Slender Man even arrives. The main characters speak in everything short of "hashtags" and their friendship feels rather robotic. Hell, the whole ''reason'' Slender Man started coming after them was because [[WhatAnIdiot they decided to summon him]] ''[[ItAmusedMe on a whim]]''.
** The entire reveal of what Slenderman ''does'' to his victims, namely [[spoiler:turning them into trees]]; aside from the fact it comes entirely out of nowhere and breaks the mystery behind the question, this left many fans joking about how [[spoiler:Slenderman is a tree-hugger trying to save the environment]].

* DesignatedHero: Hallie is ''[[AloofBigBrother painfully]]'' [[AloofBigBrother aloof]] towards her sister, to the point of refusing to let her hang out with her and her friends despite the fact that it's been made apparent that she had promised to let her do so multiple times, and in the end when she offers to let [[BigBad Slender Man]] take her for the sake of her sister, she runs screaming when the titular villain obliges her.

* SnarkBait: The film has been negatively received by critics and audiences alike for being a film based on [[Franchise/TheSlenderManMythos an Internet phenomenon]] that had fallen out of popularity in about 2014 (which wasn't helped by the infamous [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slender_Man_stabbing Slender Man stabbing]] incident) and was most popular in 2012 to 2014, and also for failing to be a good horror movie. The fact that Sony released [[WesternAnimation/TheEmojiMovie another highly-reviled movie]] that was based on a popular trend that could become similarly dated certainly didn't help. It currently holds a 9% on Website/RottenTomatoes and a 3.4 on [=IMDb=].

* DesignatedHero: Hallie is a ''[[AloofBigBrother painfully]]'' [[AloofBigBrother aloof]] towards her sister, to the point of refusing to let her hang out with her and her friends despite the fact that it's been made apparent that she had promised to let her do so multiple times, and in the end when she offers to let [[BigBad Slender Man]] take her for the sake of her sister, she runs screaming when the titular villain obliges her.

%%* DesignatedHero: Hallie is a [[DownplayedTrope downplayed]] example, but it's still apparent. She's ''[[AloofBigBrother painfully]]'' [[AloofBigBrother aloof]] towards her sister, to the point of refusing to let her hang out with her and her friends despite the fact that it's been made apparent that she had promised to let her do so multiple times, and in the end when she offers to let [[BigBad Slender Man]] take her for the sake of her sister, she runs screaming when the titular villain obliges her.

* DesignatedHero: Hallie is a [[DownplayedTrope downplayed]] example, but it's still apparent. She's ''[[AloofBigBrother painfully]]'' [[AloofBigBrother aloof]] towards her sister, to the point of refusing to let her hang out with her and her friends despite the fact that it's been made apparent that she had promised to let her do so multiple times, and in the end when she offers to let [[BigBad Slender Man]] take her for the sake of her sister, she runs screaming when the titular villain obliges her.

** Lizzy [[GoMadFromTheRevelation going insane]] over the fact that [[TheFaceless Slender Man had no face]], as it's highly unlikely anyone would go mad from that.

* DesignatedHero: Hallie is a downplayed example, but it's still apparent. She's ''[[AloofBigBrother painfully]]'' [[AloofBigBrother aloof]] towards her sister, to the point of refusing to let her hang out with her and her friends despite the fact that it's been made apparent that she had promised to let her do so multiple times, and in the end when she offers to let [[BigBad Slender Man]] take her for the sake of her sister, she runs screaming when the titular villain obliges her.