Slender Returns (2024 Horror Film Sequel)

Slender Returns, also known as Slender Woods 2 is the sequel to the 2019 horror film, Slender Woods. It was produced by John Carpernter and directed by George A. Romero.

Plot
It has been 5 years since Tom and his friends nearly got murdered by the mysterious demon like ghost, Slender Man. The police don't believe that Slender Man is real since someone switched the footage that Tom took and replaced it with the comedy film, The Mask. However, the beast returns, and is seeking more horror.

Story
The film begins with a few short clips from the original film. The first one being Eric telling the story of Slender Man, the second one being Tom explaining the strange noises, the third one being Eric finding the first page, and the last one being Slender Man (covered in blood) chasing Tom and Eric. When the last clip is finished, the screen clitches out into image of the title. The film then actually starts with Tom and Eric explaining to a officer about the mysterious Slender Man incident. They then give him the video tape, and the officer puts it into the tape player. When the video turns on, it doesn't show the footage that Tom took, it started playing a scene from the 1994 comedy film, The Mask. The officer then takes the tape out of the tape player, and asks them if this was just a prank. Tom then grabs the tape, he says that it wasn't and he didn't know what happened. The officer then tells them that he knows that it was a prank, and that them that they are lucky that he isn't going to arrest them. When Tom and Eric get out of the building, Eric says that he thinks that Slender Man did something to the tape so the police wouldn't be after him. Tom agrees with Eric, and they both get back to their homes. That night, Tom finds the real tape under his bed, but it was broken. Tom then finds a little note on it saying "They'll never know that I exist...". Tom figures out that it was Slender Man, and calls Eric about it. 5 years later, Eric joins the police department as a detective. One day, when Eric was at his lunch break, he finds a newspaper that was on the counter. It said "FOUR YEAR OLD BOY KIDNAPPED. PARENT CALIMS THAT SHE SAW HIM WITH A NO FACED FIGURE WALKING INTO SLENDER WOODS.". Eric then realized that it was the evil demonic ghost that tried to kill him, Slender Man. He knew it because it said that the person had no face and they were walking into Slender Woods. Eric then cuts out the article, puts it in a file, and names the file "Slender File". Meanwhile, in the same police department, Tom (who is currently the janitor) is shown sweeping the floor, then he sees a wall of all the main chairmen of Slenderatown (the home of Tom and Eric) has had. When Tom looks at the 37 chairman, Steven Walken, he realizes that his picture was missing. Tom asks one of the officers who was passing by him who he was and what happened to the picture. She says that he was one of the greatest leaders of Slenderatown, she also says that he has been missing for years, and nobody knows what happened to the picture. Tom then realizes that something sounds awfully fimalar. That night, Tom wakes up at 12'o clock, because he heard a sound that sounded like a little girl screaming from his closest. He gets up from his bed, grabs a flashlight from his drawer, turns on the flash light, and then opens up the closest door. Suddenly, Slender Man comes out of the closet, and attacks Tom. Slender Man breaks the window and then grabs a piece of it. He slits Tom's arm, and then he tries to stab him with it. However, Tom throws the flashlight at him, knocking him into the closet. When Tom gets into the closet, he sees a letter saying "Can't get away so easily Roberts...". The next morning, because of how bad the cut was, Tom went to a hospital because of it. Before the doctor came in, Tom gets a call from Eric. Eric says that he found out that Slender Man was actually found by a woman, who had her child kidnapped by him, not just that, but simallar incidents like that happened in the same location. As soon as Eric finished, Tom told Eric about the mysterious Steven Walken disappearance. Eric looks up Steven Walken, it said that he was the 37 chairman of Slendratown has been missing for years after he walked into the Slender Woods. Eric pictured in his mode what it was like when Walken got kidnapped by the cannibals in the woods from the story that he told (A short scene is shown, and it was based on the story). Meanwhile, the doctor (who is getting ready to look at Tom's arm) is getting ready to check Tom out, but as soon as she is about to leave the room, the door shuts on her. When she tries to open the door, it wouldn't open. She then hears strange noises coming from behind, she looks at the mirror, and then Slender Man comes out of it. The doctor screams, Slender Man grabs her and then throws her at the mirror, after this Slender Man makes a comedic joke, looks at the audience, and says "Remember kids, sometimes when you are at the hospital, doctors can't save you.". He then grabs her and pushes her into the wall. He then tears her arm off, and throws it across the room. One of the doctors hear here screaming, and tries to open the door. Slender Man grabs he again and then he slits her neck with a piece of the mirror, and then stabs her multiple times. Tom hears this from his room, and checks out what's going. He sees the doctor trying to get the door open, so Tom helps him by breaking the door down. They then see the doctor on the ground, dead, with the piece of the mirror on stuck into her back. Tom looks at the doctor's hand, he realizes that she was holding a letter, he picked it up, and it said "Your next...". When Tom returns to his home, he calls Tom and Jack, saying that he needs there help. Meanwhile, at the police department, Slender Man grabs one of the officers who was walking past the storage room, and posses him. Slender Man (Inside the officers body, controlling him) then goes into the office, and shots one of the officers. One of the other officers comes other and tazes him, but then, Slender Man grabs the chains that are attached to the gun, and then throws it at the officer, he also rips his heart out. Another officer comes running over with a bat, but this time, Slender Man impales him with one of his tenticals, and before he lets him go, Slender Man gets into his true form, and says too him "Tell the public... that a guy named Slender Man... is going to kill everyone..." and then he lets him go. Meanwhile, Tom, Eric, and Jack go into Slender Woods. Jack has camera with him so he can take a picture of Slender Man. The friends find Slender Man at the pond, holding a dead wolf. Slender Man grabs stick, and shoves it into the ground. He tears the wolf's head off, and then he puts it on the stick. Jack takes a picture of him, but Slender Man sees the flash, and then Tom, Eric, and Jack start running. Slender Man follows them. Tom, Eric, and Jack get into the car, Tom starts the car. A few seconds later, Slender Man appears a few from the car. Tom stops the car, Slender Man starts walking towards the car. Tom then starts heading towards Slender Man as fast he can. Eric asks what is he doing, Tom responses by saying "We are just going to do one more show down with this creep." and hits Slender Man with the car. Slender Man flips over the car and lands on the ground. Tom looks at Slender Man from the car mirror, he sees him getting up, Tom then shouts "SEE YOU NEXT TIME, F*CKER!!!". That night, Tom shows the picture of Slender Man to the same officer from 5 years ago. This time, the officer believed him. He told them that the same creature came to the police department earlier that day, and says that he and the other officers will keep there eye out for him. When Tom gets home, he gets a text message from the same contact from the original film, saying "I will be back for your soul...". The film then ends with Slender Man jumpscaring the audience, and then he says "Ready for another one?"

Reception
The film got mixed reviews from fans and critics. It got a 57% on Rotten Tomatoes, which wasn't as high as the original one. People praised Slender Man's blood thirsty acts in this film, since he didn't kill anyone in the original film, and they also praised the fact that they actually called Slender Man a "he" in this film since the main characters in the original film didn't refer to him as he, instead, they referred to him as a "it". However, critics such as JonTron and The Angry Video Game Nerd panned the film. AVGN didn't like the fact Carpernter had Jack appear so late in film (when there like 49 minutes left of the film) and the fact that Slender Man somehow knew about what Eric's nickname for him, while he shouldn't have. JonTron didn't like Slender Man's joke about the hospital and he didn't like the fact that Louis didn't appear in the film at all, and the on time she (sort of) appears was when Eric looked up Steven Walken, she just appeared as picture on Eric's desk. The Nostalgia Critic gave it positive review by saying "Well, it's like the newer version of Ghostbusters, it's not bad, not good, but, it's just average. It's also like the remake of Willie Wonka and The Chocolate Factory, it's still a ok film.". AniMat (another critic) actually thought that it was better than the first movie.

2028 Sequel
A threequl to Slender Woods, and a sequel to this movie is plotting on being made in 2028. However, it has been confirmed that the story WON'T be focusing on Tom this time, instead, it will be focusing on Jack this time.

Trivia

 * This is the first film in the series that isn't like a lost footage film.
 * It is unknown if Eric will appear in the next film since it has only been reaveled that Tom won't appear in it.
 * This film reavels that Slender Man's real name is actually Steven Walken and that he was once the chairman of Slenderatown.
 * It was reaveled by Carpernter that after he finished this film, he would make another Creepypasta film that would be realsed in 2026. He said the film's name would be "Go To Sleep", so this probably means that the next film will be a film adaptation of Jeff the Killer.
 * One month after this film was released, a novel called "Always Watching" was released. The book was made by John Carpernter himself, and it reavels what happens shortly after this film.
 * The scene where Slender Man kills the doctor was probably the most gory part the movie.
 * It is reaveled in this movie that the name of the area where Tom and his friends live is called Slenderatown, Alska.
 * It also seems that Slenderatown is one of the few warm places in Alska.