The Wicked | 20/20

Documentary, TV Special, 2019

Premise - An ABC Special hosted by David Muir on the infamous "Slenderman" attempted homicide case in 2014. Two 12-year-old girls stab their best friend, another 12-year-old girl, 19 times in the woods during a slumber party. When interrogated by police, the girls' reasoning is that the fictional character "Slenderman" told them to do it, or he would kill their families. The documentary special covers both the event as well as the trial in 2017.


Review - Everybody has heard of this case. The way I started watching this is so pathetic... I literally have a hard time getting up and ready in the morning without first turning on some kind of entertainment, usually a podcast or simplistic YouTube video. Part 1 of this documentary showed up in my YouTube recommendations and I was literally just casually listening to this horrible story while doing my makeup and brushing my teeth. And I, naturally, got hooked, to the point when I ran out of YouTube videos to watch and had to resort to watching the documentary in full on Hulu even though I had fully gotten ready, left the house, and had already arrived at work. It's a classic case of catching the bait. These editors know exactly what they are doing when putting together a piece like this.

Why as humans are we so fascinated by crime stories? Especially the most horrific ones? What is it that is so alluring and addictive? Is it the fact that we have trouble wrapping our heads around it because it seems so inhumane and outside of our own experience? Is it because it's a way of vicariously experiencing a thrill? In my part at least, I think a lot of it has to do with the fascination of human psychology and how someone's thoughts and environment can lead them to such a state. Then on top of that, this crime was committed by 12-year-old girls, which is the age range I am most fascinated by. Of course, my psychological interests tend to be more among mood and behavior disorders, and I am very unfamiliar with anything having to do with psychoses, delusions, or the like. That's mostly because those kinds of disorders tend to not show up in kids. That's also what is so interesting about this case is that it's such a rare phenomenon.

The documentary handled the story well. Of course it capitalized on suspense, but there was enough genuinely good content in there (clips from the interrogation room and interviews with the victim/victim's family was most interesting to me). I appreciated the fact that the story stayed focused on the behaviors of the two girls and didn't extend into some greater discussion about the safety of the Internet. The girls did read stories on the internet about Slenderman, but internet stories and games about Slenderman are not the cause of this event. Mental illness is. Not once did this documentary suggest that there should be any censorship around the Internet or children's access to it.

There was some discussion, however, about parental monitoring (whether that be internet access, or keeping tabs about what kids keep in their rooms). This is a tricky concept for me to wrap my head around for 12-year-olds. That's an age teetering into adolescence, but not quite there. They are still children, but older children approaching puberty that you would want to allow some levels of privacy. I have always been of the mindset of not to helicopter/micromanage your teens and give them some autonomy. But 12... that's just borderline. I definitely do not place any blame on the parents. There was a comment made that normally the girls have parental supervision when going to the park, but because it was a birthday party they were awarded with the opportunity to go alone. I think that's actually fair and responsible parenting. It just happened to be horrendous in this particular instance.

There was also blame placed around the parents for not knowing or seeing the warning signs that their daughters were delusional or schizophrenic, especially for the mother whose ex-husband had schizophrenia. But again - SCHIZOPHRENIA IS INCREDIBLY RARE IN 12-YEAR-OLDS. If you see a kid playing around, acting imaginative, they are displaying normal child behavior. It takes a real expert to diagnose schizophrenia in kids that young. And yes, the daughter had mentioned a fascination with Slenderman, but the mom made a good point of saying "I read Stephen King at that age" which was just fantasy. That's normal. Reading campfire horror stories with your friends is normal. This is one of the rare instances in which that led to violence.

I really try not to get caught up in people's lengthy and unyielding opinions on the internet. I also try not to have heavy opinions myself. I didn't follow the case extensively while it was happening (just headlines), and watched this documentary more for my own disgusting entertainment and morbid fascination. (89/100).

What to watch for - Again, I think the most valuable (and least bias-inducing) pieces are actual unedited, raw clips from the interrogation.

If you liked this documentary, I'd recommend We Need to Talk About Kevin!

Season 42, Episode 5 of 20/20
Hosted by David Muir
Broadcast by ABC