The Bye Bye Man: Film Review

Don’t think it, don’t speak it otherwise you give him more power. Nope, it isn’t Freddy Krueger. It’s The Bye Bye Man and just the mention of his name will make him come for you.

The story of The Bye Bye Man starts out in Iowa in the 60’s when a reporter stumbles upon a story about a 15 year old that murdered his entire family. He claimed The Bye Bye Man made him do it. After that the reporter tells a few friends only to discover The Bye Bye Man is real and the only way to save his friends is to murder them and kill himself.

That should have been the end to the story but three college students decide to rent a big house outside of town. Weird things begin to happen in the house but it isn’t until Elliot finds the words The Bye Bye Man in an old nightstand that things get worse. Now Elliot has to figure out a way to stop The Bye Bye Man before it’s too late.

The main problem with The Bye Bye Man is the poor writing. The script is awful and the dialog trudges along. It skips between the story of the reporter and the three students a little too much in the beginning. It’s hard to keep up in some places. Because of the poor script, the acting is awful. Newcomer, Cressida Bonas who plays Sasha, was probably the worst out of the bunch. Her character should have been cut because she doesn’t do much of anything in the movie.

The Bye Bye Man himself, played by Doug Jones, has a moment or two when he is creepy. Not scary but a little creepy. The character looks similar to another monster Jones portrayed, The Gentlemen from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but not as effective. More importantly, we don’t know much about The Bye Bye Man, where he comes from and why we are supposed to be scared of him, so when he does appear it doesn’t do much. There is maybe one jumpscare but the rest is predictable. And what was up with that terrible CG dog?

This would mark directory Stacy Title’s first “big budget” movie. It is pretty and the cinematography is gorgeous but it can’t save this terrible excuse of a movie. Originally the movie was rated R for bloody horror and violence but they toned it down to reach a wider audience. Because of this most of the blood was taken out and it feels strange when some shoots someone with a shotgun but no blood is on the wall. It seems tame and you lose interest very quickly.

Had The Bye Bye Man kept the R rating we may have gotten a good film but it’s hard to tell. The story is so jumbled that it is hard to keep up. Those poor actors had to try to make a terrible script good and in the process gave some of the worst performances. The Bye Bye Man could have become one of the greats with Freddy, Jason and Michel Myers but instead he gets pushed to the back. Just go ahead and say “bye-bye” to this pile of garbage.

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