Review: The Bye Bye Man (2017)

The Bye Bye Man (2017) follows Elliot (played by Douglas Smith), Sasha (Cressida Bonas), and John (Lucien Laviscount), three college students who rent an old creepy home on the outskirts of their college town. After finding something in the home, the three individuals start to suffer from hallucinations which revolve around a creepy figure called the Bye Bye Man (played by Doug Jones).

The Bye Bye Man (2017) starts off incredibly strong with a very intriguing and eerie single shot scene that takes place in a different time period from the rest of the film. This opening scene was my favorite part of the film, and as I was watching it, I was just thinking, man this would make an excellent short film. Unfortunately, the rest of the movie is not as good, and it gets worse and worse as it progresses. With the exception of the opening scene, the rest of the film's setup is very generic and stereotypical in that it revolves around college kids who move into a creepy house and discover something that sets off a series of events.

By far the biggest issue with The Bye Bye Man (2017) is the writing. The story doesn't offer anything new, and the dialogue can be very cheesy at times. The performances are just OK, but I don't blame the actors, more the bad dialogue and the film's direction. There are a few creepy and suspenseful moments, but they come from unoriginal overplayed sources like unnecessary jump scares and noises that are thrown in randomly. As the movie progresses, the main character tries to make sense of the Bye Bye Man, but it doesn't pan out in a satisfying way. When the Bye Bye Man finally appears on screen, I was let down as his makeup was terrible and looked very fake and cheap.

The Bye Bye Man is not a good movie, but it also isn't completely terrible. If you go into it with proper expectations, I think you will find it to be a watchable but untimely forgettable film. I give The Bye Bye Man (2017) a 5 out of 10.