'It's too close to home:' Several Milwaukee theaters don't want to screen upcoming Slender Man movie
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The Avalon Theater and Fox Bay Cinema Grill say they don’t think they’ll be screening the film.
“That's hitting a little too close to home,” Owner of Fox Bay Cinema Grill Roman Kelly said. “I just don't see us bringing it in to view because I don't know the people in Milwaukee want to see a movie about that given what's happened.”
The movie is due out in May. The studio released a trailer Wednesday with scenes depicting a girl stabbing herself and Slender Man stalking a girl in the woods.
In Wisconsin, Anissa Weier and Morgan Geyser were 12 when they lured a classmate to a wooded park in 2014. Geyser stabbed her 19 times. Both girls told detectives they had to kill their classmate to protect their families from Slender Man.
The father of one of two Wisconsin girls who attacked their classmate in an effort to please horror character Slender Man says Sony Pictures' decision to release a movie about the character is in poor taste. He says local theaters shouldn't show it.
The movie is not based on the girls’ case, rather on the Slender Man himself. That’s why the Avalon Theater is choosing not to screen it. They showed a documentary on the Slender Man case during the Milwaukee Film Festival that featured the two families. Mark Strube of the Neighborhood Theater Group, who works on programming for the Avalon, said with a movie that’s simply horror, it won’t benefit anyone in the area.
“It's a little bit fresh for the community to just play a basic horror film that involves this tragedy,” Strube said.
An MPS School Psychologist said every family should have a discussion and ask questions as more and more people begin to talk about the movie.
“Is my child capable of understanding what's going on in the film? That it is a film, that it's not real?” Margaret Altschaefl said.
Sony Pictures media officials didn't reply to an email seeking comment.
Marcus Theaters has not returned our request for comment, either.