Slender Man Deserves To Have More Movies Than Jeepers Creepers
Why is it that we live in a world where there are four Jeepers Creepers movies, and only one Slender Man movie that’s not very good? The former film, while having proved itself to have the ability to become a somewhat lucrative franchise, isn’t exactly what we’d call a critical darling. And while 2018’s Slender Man left a lot to be desired, the property still has a lot of untapped potential that needs to be considered.
The Slender Man Urban Legend Is Terrifying
Slender Man was one of those internet sensations that scared us stiff when we first heard about it, and rightfully so. The urban legend originated on the Something Awful forums in 2009, and the internet just ran with it unlike Jeepers Creepers, which was conceived through more traditional means, and in many ways a by-the-numbers horror flick.
Slender Man’s origin was organically crowdsourced through countless artists and amateur filmmakers who uploaded doctored images and even documentaries to the internet, which makes for an inherently more compelling story because its lore felt real in the early days.
But the problem with Slender Man was that it was also a by-the-numbers horror movie, and a poorly received one at that. As of this writing, Slender Man has a critical score of 8 percent against a 16 percent audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, barely getting into double-digit territory.
Given the lackluster reception of Slender Man, a sequel might not actually be the move to make, but rather a reboot based on the original copypasta that circulated its way through the internet over the past 14 years.
Jeepers Creepers, on the other hand, made back nearly six times its production budget of $10 million despite its 45 percent critical score, and was naturally green lit of a sequel because it was a money maker.
In other words, despite its low critical score, Jeepers Creepers certainly had legs, metaphorically and commercially speaking. The Slender Man, who literally has intimidatingly long legs, just didn’t end up becoming the horror movie that it could have been because of its one-dimensional characters and lack of commitment to the source material that trolled its way through the internet and became a cult sensation nearly overnight.
But given the lackluster reception of Slender Man, a sequel might not actually be the move to make, but rather a reboot based on the original copypasta that circulated its way through the internet over the past 14 years.
Jeepers Creepers Continues A Downward Spiral
The Jeepers Creepers films did nothing but trend downward in both box office earnings and critical reception (the reboot, Jeepers Creepers: Reborn has a 0 percent rating). Reviewers overwhelmingly agree that Reborn doesn’t even fall into the “so bad it’s good territory,” and that it’s simply painful to watch.
Though Slender Man isn’t without an overwhelming amount of criticism, a lot of the negative feedback the film received was in regard to how much potential it would have if the right studio gave it a proper treatment.
And don’t even get us started on Jeepers Creepers 2, which involves a clairvoyant cheerleader whose visions of the Creeper seem to be shoehorned into the plot so the subjects of its terror can have the upper-hand. This is lazy writing in every conceivable way, and something that Slender Man suffered from as well. But what Slender Man has is the underutilized crowdsourcing or lore that could very well become the next horror franchise we need to see.
The Slender Man’s appeal comes from his unknown origin and his occult nature. Before the Slender Man movie, all we knew about him was that he was extremely tall and preyed on children. But just like Jeepers Creepers, the scaring power of the entity falls flat when the creature is revealed, because sometimes the unknown is more terrifying than what’s actually playing out on-screen.
While both properties have similar failings, we can’t help but wonder why Jeepers Creepers got so many sequels, but Slender Man hasn’t gotten another chance yet. At the end of the day, box office numbers are a critical factor to consider for studios who want to produce a movie. But just because Slender Man disappointed on so many levels, it doesn’t mean that there is plenty more fertile ground to explore.
What a Slender Man sequel or reboot could expertly execute that the Jeepers Creepers films could never do is utilize a found-footage narrative that ties into a central plot. Think about it: groups of kids across the world are having their own encounters with the entity, but they all share a common back story, which is why they’re the subject of his terror. And if we never truly get a full reveal of the Slender Man, and leave some of the more horrifying aspects about his physique to our imagination, we’ve got a great horror movie on our hands.
