Freddy. Jason. Michael. Leatherface. Every great horror icon has its origin story. And sure, throughout the course of horror movie history, most attempts at creating that type of long-lasting iconic character have failed miserably. But even so, every time someone conjures up a new frightening franchise foe, we pay attention because maybe this is the one. Maybe this time, the story sticks. Plus, even if that doesn’t happen, those origins are always creative and interesting.

Below, io9 has that very thing. An exclusive clip from the new horror movie The Hangman, which is in theaters this week and on demand next week. It’s about a father and son who go on a camping vacation, only for the son to go missing and the father to come face to face with the town’s hellish history, which involves the titular killer. In the below clip, we learn exactly who The Hangman is.

So is the Hangman a real person back from the grave? Is he a supernatural being? Will the movie be good enough for The Hangman to come back again and again? All questions we don’t have answers to but are interesting to think about nevertheless.

Directed by Bruce Wemple, The Hangman was written by Wemple and LeJon Woods. It stars LeJon Woods and Lindsey Dresbach and is in limited theaters on May 31, followed by VOD on June 4 from Dread. Find out more here on its official site.

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