Your wingman, your wifey, your BFF or whatever the hell you two affectionately call each other, chances are, you’ve had those moments where ideas or plans seem to synergistically self-generate between the pair of you. One of you sets out the main idea, the other fills in the details around it and the rest are history/ half naked in a holding cell at 3 am laughing to yourselves uncontrollably. It’s not uncommon for films to generate that way too. It’s even become the norm to see different name accreditations for “Story by” and “Screenplay by” with multiple people involved. Someone comes up with the outline ideas for the story for the writer to work into a full script. That wasn’t the case with The Bye Bye Man as actor-turned-writer Jonathan Penner has adapted it from a chapter of Robert Damon Schneck “Strange but true” tales compendium, the President’s Vampire. It seems doubtful the pair was ever in the same room, resulting in a horror film with some excellent core ideas that sadly diminishes in the details of a rather poor script and inconsistent execution.
The college students of Elliot (Douglas Smith – Ouija), his girlfriend Sasha (Cressida Bonas – Tulip Fever) and best friend John (Lucien Laviscount – Scream Queens) move into an old house together off campus. When they discover a strange name in some old furniture, his presence starts messing with their heads and leading them towards grizzly ends.
The film starts off very well as it establishes its rules via a 60's flashback and introduces its core trio in the present. Throughout the first act, building up to students finding (and speaking the name), there’s some good sustained mystery that kneads you into curiosity over just what’s going on from the 60's Suburgatory edition of Falling Down to some genuinely creepy camera angles and shots of expansive main location house interior. The lore of The Bye Bye Man takes is a nice riff on Elm Street too with a Psych 101 thrown in for extra credit. Just like Freddy K’s power comes from people’s fear of him.The notion of telling someone his name is planting the idea of him in their mind, which will only grow and grow. This also induces feat by naturally making the victims feel isolated and fearful of involving others and that films tagline, “Don’t say it, don’t think it” as a mind numbing mantra.
Then there’s some good old fashioned manipulation of reality Mr. BBM starts making them hallucinate. Admittedly, this isn’t utilized as well as it could be. Most fake situations feel rather obvious instead being the mental pipe bombs they should be. However, there is still a couple of good misdirection’s and jump scares from the material but it’s certainly no Oculus. In fact, the film’s best horror moments are all found in simplicity. One sign of the presence being nearby is leaving an old coin behind. It doesn’t sound like anything spectacular but simple the rattle and swirl of a coin being dropped amidst silence and stillness is immensely creepy, especially in early the goings. The film also musters a few fantastic unnerving still scenes; the best involving a little girl and a pair of doors. At this point, it all sounds pretty good..... because it actually is until the film starts explaining itself and everything derails itself.
The moment the film breaks its mystery, the cracks start to appear until eventually much of it collapses. For starters, after having built up The Bye Bye Man himself as a good sinister presence in the shadows, director Stacey Title (Snoop Dogg’s Hood of Horror...... no seriously) ruins it purely by showing way too much of him. Okay, he’s got Mr. Creature Feature himself, Doug Jones (Hellboy’s Abe Sapien, Pan’s Labyrinth) playing the guy but showing him in close-up as a real person makes him feel completely unthreatening. Then there’s Bye Bye’s best friend, bloody Fido. Giving him a dog was a nice touch and it gets some good moments lurking it the shadows..... until a terrible CG version starts strutting round the room like it wandered off Resident Evil’s set next door. The plot starts merely wondering around bumping into the odd horror cliché as it goes (oh look a conveniently knowledgeable stranger) with several points frustratingly left as sequel bait rather than resolved for a more satisfying viewing experience. The dialogue falls flat in any attempts at emotionality. There’s a big sell on the connection between Elliott and his older brother Virgil (Michael Trucco – Battlestar Galactica‘s Anders) but it ultimately feels meaningless, especially when later milked for a payoff.
It must also be noted that the acting across the cast ranges bad to almost passable. To be fair, the fact that it’s everyone implies bad material and a bad director rather it being the actors' fault. Case and point, Carrie-Anne Moss (The Matrix) features as a police detective. Anyone that watched Jessica Jones knows that Mrs. Moss still has it yet here, she feels bland, almost lifeless on screen. The worst acting offender by far is Cressida Bonas, who you’ll wish you just hurry up and get killed off. Douglas Smith has his moments of being a half decent lead but in general he is neither likeable nor worthy of your investment.
Yet for all its problems, I don’t think this should be farewell to the Bye Bye because underneath it all there is series/franchise potential. The central lore of the character is strong and with a more capable and experienced writer/director team in charge, could result in an enjoyable horror film. For now though, this debut offering is recommended more dedicated horror fans that will enjoy its plus points and stomach the subsequent disappointment rather than causal fans that will more likely be frustrated by the overall result. So Bye Bye man, hopefully we’ll see you later…. But come back a better man or not at all.
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