The anticipation is over. The 2012 monster from the woods is back and ready to spook viewers. Slenderman is a fictional horror character whose trademark is his abnormally tall, thin stature. He is presented in a black suit with no face, like a mannequin. He can be found amongst the trees haunting and terrorizing small children. Now as scary as that may sound, the movie was absolutely boring.

 The story follows a group of high school girls in a small Massachusetts town. After failing to be invited to their guy friend’s house, they learn it is because the guys will be “summoning Slenderman”. The girls laugh at the guys’ immaturity and continue on with their night.

 After a few hours, the girls get bored and jokingly decide to summon Slenderman themselves. This leads them to watch a very cryptic video with symbols and images of trees. The girls are left feeling strange, yet they don’t end up seeing the creature.

 A few days later, the girls go on a class trip to an old museum. Towards the end of the trip, one of the girls, Hallie, goes missing. Hallie disappeared into the woods during the trip after her friends remarked that she was acting strange. After the tragic incident, police search the woods for days but find nothing. The girls raise the suspicion that her disappearance is linked to the video.

 The rest of the story consists of finding out what actually happened and getting Hallie back.  

 Slenderman is rarely seen throughout the course of the movie, which means there are very few jump scares. The rest of the movie is awfully confusing, emphasizing that this was a low budget film.

 Aside from the lack of money, the writers could have written a better story. For one, there were too many characters with similar features, confusing the viewer as to who was who. In addition, most of the dialogue was disgustingly cheesy. The way the high school students spoke to each other was cringeworthy to the point one may find it difficult to pay attention.

 Nobody should waste time or money if they are planning on being terrified. This film deserves two out of five stars for the effort and marketing.