“The Bye Bye Man” is a 2017 haunted house style horror movie that offers an occasional scare and/or unique and chilling scene, but has such a weird plot that the story itself completely fails to fit the script in any cohesive way.
The stars of the film are three unknown players; Douglas Smith, Lucien Laviscount, and Cressida Bonas, and all are capable though not overly memorable. Elliott and Sasha (Smith and Bonas) are a loving couple, and John (Laviscount) is Elliott’s lifelong best friend. They act like typical college kids though none have much in the way of depth. We know John is a womanizing jock and Elliott is really smart. Elliott’s parents died wen he was young, and his older brother (Michael Trucco) serves as a fatherly figure. Sasha is really pretty and doesn’t do much else.
The three attend a Wisconsin college, and the Autumnal scenery is a great backdrop. They decide to rent an off-campus house that is, of course, haunted by the titular entity. What exactly the Bye Bye Man is is never really explained. We do know he travels with a sinister hound that’s one of the better parts of the film. The Bye Bye Man can only get you if you think about him or speak his name. The tagline of the movie is “Don’t think it, don’t say it,” and the cryptic phrase becomes a key component, though its a bit far fetched.
There isn’t much in the way of gore, save for the bizarre and brutal opening sequence. The story revolves around the friends and their dealings with Mr. Bye Bye once they inadvertently release him from…wherever it is he has been hiding. The scares are delivered with each suffering from strange hallucinations (again never really explained) and of course standard jump scares.
There are a few areas that were really cool, like a chilling scene at a library or the constant sound of a coin ricocheting off the ground whenever danger is near. There are also a handful of “explain-it-all” scenes that conveniently tie up all loose ends in a ridiculous way.
“The Bye Bye Man” is a below average horror movie that won’t give you much in the way of enjoyment. Watch it to wet your October appetite and then quickly say Bye Bye.
by – Matt DeCristo
