The Bye Bye Man Review
PG13: Terror, Horror Violence, Bloody Images, Sexual Content, Thematic Elements, Partial Nudity, Some Language and Teen Drinking
(Jesus should’ve just given this an R rating)
STX Entertainment, Intrepid Pictures, Los Angeles Media Fund
1 Hr and 36 Minutes
Cast: Douglas Smith, Lucien Laviscount, Cressida Bonas, Doug Jones, Carrie-Anne Moss, Faye Dunaway, Cleo King, Jenna Kanell
REVIEW: Well here we are the second film in the So I guess this is what STX is doing now. I guess every January now, they’re going to release some sort of cheap horror film. Last year we got The Boy and this year we got The Bye Bye Man, a film that will make you forget every bad criticism you had towards The Boy.
When three college students move into an old house off campus, they unwittingly unleash a supernatural entity known as The Bye Bye Man, who comes to prey upon them once they discover his name. The friends must try to save each other, all the while keeping The Bye Bye Man's existence a secret to save others from the same deadly fate.
THE GOOD: One of the coolest things I can say about The Bye Bye Man is that it’s the first film of this year you can see while being either high or drunk. The reason I say this is because once The Bye Bye Man’s name is said, nearly every character starts to trip. It’s like right when you say his name, you immediately go on the worst acid trip that is indefinite which is honestly quite entertaining, to say the least.
THE BAD: Okay here’s a little backstory time for you.
I went to a film high school in Queens of New York named Academy for Careers in Television and Film. By that name you probably already guessed it's a film school. Every year with each production class, you had to direct your own project of any given genre. In 10th grade, one of the longest projects you had to work on was suspense where you were to make a horror short film. After every student’s project is complete, the production teachers watch every single one then pick their favorites. Then, they compile all their favorite projects into a compilation disc and call it Best Of.
I saw better three-minute projects in my high school’s Best Of than this pile of garbage.
I was originally going to say “you know those high school short projects that teenagers do sometimes? Well, this is another one of those.” No. I have personally seen better high school short films more creative than this. The Bye Bye Man isn’t just bland, but it’s insultingly bland. I don’t question how it was released to a silver screen because we get horror films similar to this released every year. Last year we had The Forest. 2015 we had The Gallows. What angers me is that last year was a damn near great year for horror with every film at least trying to put a new and creative spin on similar formulas. 2016 we had Lights Out which was creative. 2015 we had Unfriended which was albeit not scary, enticing throughout. This film, The Bye Bye Man is neither creative or enticing enough to be a competent horror movie. It’s just another lame diversion aimed at 13-year-old middle schoolers who never saw a real good horror movie wanting to get a cheap thrill.
The film’s story is as generic as it’s character who are as thin as a blank sheet of paper. You don’t have full-fledged characters but instead, you have types. You don’t get to care about these characters or the issues they face because none of them are likable. It even plays the stereotypical goth girl being the psychic that can speak to spirits. We follow this college boy named Elliot who moves into this new house with his girlfriend Sasha and his best friend John with the scholarship he earned. Last time I checked, in order for you to have a scholarship, you have to be smart. Elliot does the dumbest things throughout the entire movie. It constantly said that he is a very smart student but yet he's the one that starts the chain of horrific events just by doing the thing that the mythology’s rule said not for him to do: saying his name. Not only he’s the one that says The Bye Bye Man’s name first but he’s the only one that says it constantly as if there aren’t any consequences. You even see him searching his name up on his school library’s computer.
It would be nice to know where this Bye Bye Man character came from. When you have makeup actor Doug Jones (also known as the Abe Sapien from Hellboy and a bunch of other creatures and character in Guillermo Del Toro projects) as this supposed horrific figure then you should at least give him a backstory too. If it did that then I would have given the film some credit. But alas The Bye Bye Man doesn’t do that. The best he does is point at you while putting you into an acid trip as his CG demonic dog eats whoever is dead in the background. The reason we see Jason Vorhees, Freddy Kruger, Michael Myers, or even Chucky as iconic characters are because they all have different backstories that make them who they are. The Bye Bye Man, on the other hand, is just a guy with a cracked up face similar to Wade Wilson but in a hoodie. There was even a scene in Deadpool where Wade Wilson is walking around in a hooded with his messed up face. That is the basic look of The Bye Bye Man and it’s not impressive. Even sometimes when he’s mentioned, you hear or see flashes of a train which makes you wonder “does The Bye Bye Man have a weird obsession with trains?”
The acting here is atrocious. Douglas Smith does a good job as Elliot where he even gives a chilling speech to Carrie Ann Moss. The rest of the cast with the exception of Smith and Moss are terrible especially Cressida Bonas who plays Sasha. Every line of dialogue she says delivered in such a stiff and emotionless voice that you just want to scream “GIRL WAKE UP! YOU’RE IN A MOVIE!” Maybe she knew the material that was given to her was bad or she’s just a bad actress. It’s strange because she is the granddaughter of the 6th Earl Howe and the daughter of an entrepreneur so it’s another case of a little bit of nepotism going a long way. She is so bad she makes Tommy Wiseau look like a freaking Oscar winner. It sort of saddened me seeing Carrie Ann Moss in this film. You can’t tell if she’s giving her all or not because she is the best actress in this film filled with nobody but bad performers.
THE RENDY: That being said, it is a fun experience to watch but in the most unintentionally hysterical way.
There are some lame ass jump scares, but they are played so unintentionally up for laughs that you can’t help from cracking up. Every time someone died, I cracked up laughing for just how stupid and bizarre some go. There is a moment where a dude shoots a woman with a shotgun through the stomach. Although you don’t see any blood from her body you see the huge hole it makes on the wall. Just something like that is so mind-bogglingly hysterical to me. It was the best comedic experience I had in a theater for a long time.
If you really are waiting for a good horror flick, what I do recommend is checking out M. Night Shyamalan's Split when it is released next Friday. Not only is it the best Shyamalan film since Signs, but it’s the best January film release you’ll see this month.
LAST STATEMENT: The Bye Bye Man is a terrible excuse for a horror film across the board for its generic, lazy, poorly performed, and most of all anything but scary. For a film’s tagline being “Don’t say it. Don’t think it,” it should be rephrased to “Don’t Say it. Don’t See it.”
Rating: 1.5/5 | 32%
Super Scene: Mrs. Watkin’s death
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Unintentional Hilarious Moments | No Scary Elements |
| Carrie Ann Moss | The Bye Bye Man Himself |
| Douglas Smith | Lack of Creativity |
| A Good Excuse For You To Watch Something While Being High | Story |
| Characters | |
| Bad Performances Especially From Cressida Bonas |
