The Bye Bye Man

Title: The Bye Bye Man
Rating: PG-13
Runtime: 1hr & 36min


The Villain Should Take his Own Name as Advice and Go Away


Opening:
I didn’t want to hate this movie, as a matter of fact; I was kind of looking forward to it. A horror film like this doesn’t have to be of the best caliber but at least provide some good entertainment with some good scares. Nope, none of that happened. Let’s get reel and break this down.

Plot:
Three friends stumble upon the horrific origins of the Bye Bye Man, a mysterious figure they discover is the root cause of the evil behind man's most unspeakable acts.

Directing/Writing

Pros:
Some of the ideas of the Bye Bye Man and hallucinated scenes were cool but that’s as far as I go.

Cons:
Story: This is a story we have seen many times and it never tries anything new or exciting to stand out from the rest. The plot structure is also paint by numbers PG-13 horror clichés or any cliché for that matter. The main concept of the Bye Bye Man is never explained and he is just simply there. Characters would also just come and go with no real weight to the actual story. A lot of stuff actually comes and goes and makes no sense. Writing/Dialogue: It’s awful. The bland and simple dialogue is sometimes laughable and terribly delivered by the actors. What’s even worse is when a character says something clearly for the audience and in the actual scene comes off as stilted. Characters: The main characters had no chemistry with each other whatsoever and they felt like they were reading lines from a mediocre script. On top of that, they make stupid decisions so you don’t care about anything they do and you don’t have any connection to them when sh*t hits the fan. The whole third act feels rushed and random and with the terrible acting it’s not fun to watch. The Rating: This film was originally rated R and then cut to PG-13 and it shows. Certain scenes don’t even have blood despite the violence depicted, the sex scenes are zoomed in and cropped very awkwardly, and language was muffled or cut in a jarring way.

Acting

Pros:
None.

Cons:
Everyone was bad delivering terrible and simple dialogue. There was no weight to any performance and everyone was going through the motions. You simply don’t care about it but it is hilarious to witness these performances.

Cinematography

Pros:
I will admit there are some interesting shots that are effective in some slight terror and creativity…but once again…that’s as far as I go.

Cons:
Nothing really terrible but it’s just stale filmmaking and you feel like the actors are on a set.

Editing/Special Effects

Pros:
At an hour and a half, it was funny so it was entertaining on that level?

Cons:
When you simply don’t give a crap about anyone, witness the randomness of characters and scenes, the movie seems way longer than its runtime. The special effects are awful especially on a certain creature. It looked like burnt, fried bologna.

Overall:
As JT from *NSYNC once said, “Bye Bye Bye.” I don’t want to ever see this movie again.

Grade: D+
(Review by Chase Lee)