Reviews: The Bye Bye Man (2017) Movie Review
Genres: Horror, Thriller, Drama, Mystery, Fantasy
Subgenres: Haunted House, Slasher, Featured Teens, Haunted House - Cursed, Supernatural Serial killer (Top Supernatural Serial Killers in Movies), Teens
Our take on The Bye Bye Man (2017) explores its plot, scares, and horror highlights to help fans decide if it deserves a place on their watchlist.
The Bye Bye Man (2017) is a 1h 36 min PG-13 American supernatural thriller horror film that was based on the chapter titled The Bridge to Body Island in Robert Damon Schneck‘s 2011 novel The President’s Vampire. The Bye Bye Man grossed over $24 million worldwide although it was unfavorable to most viewers. Director Stacy Title (The Last Supper (1995), Let the Devil Wear Black (1999), Down on the Waterfront (1993)) had a tough script to work with as the storyline appears to be a bite off of many other horror movies. The movie had the potential of being something far better than what it was. I was anticipating the release of this film because I was intrigued with a particular piece of furniture that can wreak havoc on your world.
Elliot (Douglas Smith - Vinyl (2016), Big Love (2006-2011), Miss Sloane (2016), When We Rise (2017)) and his lifelong best friend John finds a home far away from their previous residence. John (Lucien Laviscount - Honeytrap (2014), Coronation Street (2009), One Night in Istanbul (2014)) and Elliot was attending Wisconsin University and lived in the dorms. The duo did not expect that horrific fate they were about to encounter when they moved into the old creaky house. Elliot’s girlfriend Sasha (Cressida Bonas - Doctor Thorne (2016), Tulip Fever (2017), BBC World News (2013)) moves in with them. They found an old nightstand in the dingy old basement and decides to take it up to the bedroom. Elliot found the words “The Bye Bye Man” written in the drawer of the nightstand and read them aloud. Elliot unintentionally drags his friends along with him into the dangerous hands of The Bye Bye Man who wears a hood and only means harm to the trio.
I was super excited and interested in the movie until about five minutes after we see the hooded figure because I felt as though we the audience were teased. The Bye Bye Man scares were not fully developed/explored and did not scare us at all, not even a tiny bit. The Bye Bye Man is a mere illusionist who tricks people into believing things that are not really there by manipulating reality. Imagine being trapped in a nightmare that you cannot get out of.
My feeling about this film was neutral because it was good for the first half and fell miserably short afterward. The jump scares were cheap, as well as the CGI effects and practical effects but the makeup effects were above average. The makeup job on The Bye Bye Man was creepy in a good way, and I would have liked to see scarier scenes with him. I applaud Doug Jones for doing a great job with his character, The Bye Bye Man. My overall thought is that The Bye Bye Man squished together good elements from awesome horror films. The movie’s script was terrible as well as most of its cast giving us a terrible job. The characters were also not fully developed which was a major negative, and the editor did not help the movie.
Sources Used to Shape This Review
Insights in this review are drawn from director interviews, fan commentary, production notes, and long-form breakdowns across genre-specific platforms. Content is written uniquely and reviewed for accuracy.
- The Bye Bye Man Rating Scores
- Our Score: 5/10
- Overall Score: 3.87/10
- IMDB: 4.3/10
- MetaCritic: 3.7/10
- Rotten Tomatoes: 1.8/10
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