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Published 15:53 IST, February 1st 2021

Is Terror in the Woods a True Story? The real-life horror incident explained

Terror in the Woods is a 2018 horror movie loosely based on the classic Slender Man. Is Terror in the Woods a true story? Get to know the real-life incident.

Reported by: Sanjana Kalyanpur
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Terror in the Woods is a 2018 horror movie that follows two twelve-year-old girls who kill their friend as a blood sacrifice to the internet legend, Suzerain. The film had opened to mixed reviews but was named by fans as their worst nightmare. For a horror movie, that sounds like a pretty good compliment. For an avid horror watcher, the premise of the movie will sound eerily similar to another horror classic. Here's everything you need to know about Terror in the Woods.

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Is Terror in the Woods a true story?

Terror in the Woods is based on a true story of a real-life terror incident that took place in Waukesha, Wisconsin, USA. According to ABC News, back in 2014, Anissa Weier and Morgan Geyser lured their friend Payton Leutner into thinking they're going off on an adventure and murdered her in the woods by stabbing her 19 times, thinking that this act will make them proxies of the demon Slender Man.

Apparently, they were inspired by the story Slender Man that was published online on a horror website called Creepypasta. Fortunately, the twelve-year-old Payton revealed to have had survived the stabbing and somehow crawled her way out of the woods. A biker named Greg Steinberg found her soon after and called 911 for help. As per Chicago Tribune, Anissa and Morgan were found on an interstate ramp as they were trying to locate Slender Man; they were then arrested and charged with attempted first-degree intentional homicide.

As for the movie, Terror in the Woods follows the same premise with Anissa, Morgan and Payton now named as Rachel, Kaitlyn and Emily respectively. The reason behind their gruesome act has been given a saner outlook, with them trying to protect their families from the demon's curse as opposed to following the demon. While the Slender Man movie took the same approach as the real-life incident and had earned negative reviews for it, Terror in the Woods seems to have taken some notes and cooked a different story with the bits of reminiscing factor. The movie has been open about taking artistic liberties and avoided copy-pastes keeping in mind the legal consequences. Watch the trailer here:

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Updated 15:53 IST, February 1st 2021

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