Review of The Bye Bye Man (2017) by Patrick L — 15 Jun 2017

"It is one of the most lazily constructed horror movies I've seen in many a moon".

DVD Movie Review: The Bye Bye Man.

Date Viewed: April 20 2017.

Directed By Stacy Title (The Last Supper).

Written By Jonathan Penner, Based on the chapter "The Bridge to Body Island" from the novel "The President's Vampire" by Robert Damon Schneck.

Starring: Douglas Smith, Lucien Laviscount, Cressida Bonas, Doug Jones, Carrie-Anne Moss, Faye Dunaway, Michael Trucco, Cleo King, Jenna Kanell, Erica Tremblay and Leigh Whannell.

I will definitely say bye bye to "The Bye Bye Man" when goes into my list of the worst movies of 2016. It is one of the most lazily constructed horror movies I've seen in many a moon. This "Bye Bye Man" is just a cheap imitation of other horror movie villains from the past. "The Bye Bye Man" looks exactly like Freddy Krueger but without his disfigured face, his razor claws or his snarly, dark humor. The victims who are presented in this movie keep saying "Don't Think It! Don't Say It!", "Don't Think It!, Don't Say It!", "Don't Think It!, Don't Say It!" but how about "Don't See It!", choosing this option will make you, me and the rest of the audience very happy.

The movie's epilogue takes place in 1969 where a man commits mass murder throughout his neighborhood all because if they spoke or mentioned about "The Bye Bye Man". Listen guy, you're willing to kill people you either like or love all for the purpose of speaking about a killer who's just a Freddy Krueger wannabe? You're just a sick asshole and have you ever heard of saintly crosses or the Bible?

"The Bye Bye Man" then shifts to present day where we encounter three college students, Elliot (Douglas Smith), his girlfriend, Sasha (Cressida Bonas) and his best bud, John (Lucien Laviscount) who move into an off-campus house. As the three students throw a party, Elliot discovers a shelf with writing consisting of just "don't think it, don't say it" and the title name "The Bye Bye Man". Oh Geez, he's in for it now. As you may have guessed, weird things start happening such as Sasha developing a strange cough and Elliot finding coins over and over again.

Who is this "Bye Bye Man" anyway? We don't know where he's from, we never get an insight into his origins, we don't know much about him? He just kills people who speak his name and that's about it. What's the trouble for speaking that name? You're probably going to be puzzled and outraged about my two theories about the Bye Bye Man. Is he the Hillary Clinton assassin who murdered Vince Foster or is he connected to the Pizzagate stories? Hey, I'm just saying! Oh yeah, the Bye Bye Man's only companion is a skinless demon dog and he's played Doug Jones who is known to comic book fanboys as Abe Sapien, from the two "Hellboy" films.

Continuing on with the premise, as Sasha continues to be sick, Elliot starts to have hallucinations and he begins to suspect that his sick girlfriend is cheating on him with John. After a female friend of the three college mates gets killed after being struck by a train, Detective Shaw (Carrie-Anne Moss) takes Elliot in for questioning but is let go due to lack of evidence. "The Bye Bye Man" continues to torment poor Elliot as he tries to figure out a way to stop him and save his friends. Elliot goes to the library in order to find old news stories about the Bye Bye Man but he finds no such stories anywhere on their computer archives. No wonder Elliot can't find anything about the Bye Bye Man, this whole community seems to think that he is fake news. Eventually Elliot does find a story about the Bye Bye Man after just googling don't think it, don't say it, he discovers a story dating back to 1969 where a reporter committed mass murder in his neighborhood. Elliot also visits the reporter's widow (Faye Dunaway) about how to stop the Bye Bye Man without thinking or saying his name. The widow gives Elliot very little advice about stopping him and she warns that the Bye Bye Man curse will cause him to endure insanity, hallucinations and of course death.

"The Bye Bye Man" is believe it or not based on a chapter from Robert Damon Schneck's book "The President's Vampire" and I highly doubt that he's an original horror movie killer. The acting is terrible, the screenplay by Jonathan Penner is completely inane and Stacy Title's direction is crammed with all too familiar horror movie cliches. The year maybe early but it is already looking to be another bad year for Faye Dunaway, first you took part in that Best Picture blunder with Warren Beatty and then you do this movie? She really needs to find roles that suit her well, otherwise it's game over for her career. As for the three young leads, there's no film career in your future but hey! You can always star in cruddy, direct-to-DVD turdpiles with Nicolas Cage and Bruce Willis!

There's nothing more to say about "The Bye Bye Man" because it's really bad. By the way, I've written the name 17 times in this review and nothing bad has happened to me. I guess it shows how scare-free it is.