It's no secret that cosplay is a huge element of the modern-day fandom landscape. That's especially true in the horror world, as conventions are often chock full of fans who dress up as Halloween killer Michael Myers, Friday the 13th slasher Jason Voorhees, or Nightmare on Elm Street icon Freddy Krueger. And with Sony's Slender Man hitting theaters over the weekend, one fan took things to a terrifying new level by showing up to a movie theater dressed as the titular monster.
Ironically enough, this didn't actually happen at a screening the new Sony film. Per a report from News 12 Westchester, the incident occurred at a showing of Mission: Impossible - Fallout in New York. A group of kids reportedly snuck into a 7 p.m. showing of the movie, with one dressed in the signature suit and white mask that Slender Man is known to wear, silently walking into the theater during the climax of the Tom Cruise movie. A group of moviegoers was apparently terrified by the arrival of the character in the theater, and quickly rushed out of the auditorium to notify management and call the authorities.
The attendees of the Mission: Impossible - Fallout screening were understandably upset about the situation, and later accused the management at the theater of being part of the joke. However, video taken during the aftermath of the ordeal seemed to show workers at the cinema explaining that they had told the teens to wait outside of the theater for the next showing that would take place in that auditorium -- a screening of Slender Man, which would explain the costume. It is against policy for movie theater attendees to wear masks to theaters, so we still don't know if management was aware of the costume when the teens arrived at the theater.
Slender Man is based on the creepypasta character of the same name. The new film follows a group of girls in a Massachusetts down who summon the demon in order to learn more about the mysterious death of a friend. However, they soon discover the folly of their actions when the demon infects their lives and begins to drive them insane -- if it doesn't merely kill them first. Directed by David Birke, the film stars The Conjuring's Joey King (who has slowly but surely carved out a very comfortable niche for herself as a modern-day scream queen), as well as Julia GoldaniTelles, Jaz Sinclair, Annalise Basso, and Javier Botet.
Slender Man is now in theaters, so you have yet to see the 2018 horror movie, you can check it out! Looking ahead to the rest of this year, you can take a look at our 2018 movie premiere guide to see what other films (horror genre or not) are on the horizon!
