Review – The Bye Bye Man

In The Bye Bye Man, the way to keep said Bye Bye Man away is to, “Don’t think it.  Don’t say it.”  And going into this movie, I was anticipating telling you, “don’t see it, either.”  But, much to my surprise, The Bye Bye Man is a pleasant, eerie surprise.  It is a smart, well-made, edge of your seat thriller that had me intrigued the entire time.

When three college friends (Douglas Smith, Cressida Bonas, Lucien Laviscount) move into a creepy house outside of campus, they unknowingly awake a haunted spirit known as The Bye Bye Man, a spirit that terrorizes and haunts whoever utters his name.  The three friends must help each other stay alive, while also trying to defeat The Bye Bye Man and prevent his name from getting out.

The opening shot of the film really sets the tone for the movie in every way.  It is a disturbing look at how a man in the late 1960’s killed a number of people due to them knowing of The Bye Bye Man.  The scene is perfectly shot and sets a mood for that is reminiscent of an 80’s slasher or haunted house flick. You don’t feel good watching this scene and you don’t feel good the whole movie, yet you respect how it is made and know this is going to be a well-crafted film.

The Bye Bye Man doesn’t rely on cheap jump-scares to get your heart racing.  It relies on tension, smart editing, and character perception.  Director Stacy Title knows exactly how to build a scene and when to cut the scene.  A number of times, we will hear a noise, or see something move in background and assume something is going to pop out at us.  But Title cuts away right before a big scare, carrying a consistent tension through out and making us yearn for more.

My favorite part of The Bye Bye Man was how they showed these kids progressively losing their minds.  The Bye Bye Man’s ultimate power is that he changes people’s perceptions of life in order for them to hurt themselves or others around them.  Whether that would be making you jealous of a friend, or seeing somebody do something or be somewhere that they aren’t, he distorts reality and causes you to lose your mind.  As the film progresses, we see this craziness growing in our main characters.  But what is real and what is fake?  The movie distorts a lot of the reality in the film, forcing us to see things that may or may not be real, really putting us in the characters minds and not knowing what they did or what happened until after it occurred.

What I also liked is the actual Bye Bye Man.  He’s a new era Boogeyman.  A Freddy Krueger-like character who, once unleashed, never leaves.  Why is he this way?  We don’t know and that is the scariest part about him.  Where did he come from?  Why does he make the people do the things that they do?  Is he an actual person, or a personification of pure evil in all of us?  He is a mysterious character who I want to see more of.

History has proven that a PG-13 horror movie in January is usually going to be a dud.  But not this one.  Sure, the movie has some tonal and acting issues, but with it’s smart script, mysterious villain, and endless tension, The Bye Bye Man works as a fun, thrilling, inventive retro throwback.

MY RATING – 3/4

Did you see The Bye Bye Man?  What did you think?  Comment below or hit me up on Twitter and Instagram, @kevflix, or on Facebook and YouTube by searching Kevflix.