I’m sure there are a number of cinephiles who, like me, could use a break from the annual assortment of awards movies, especially in this, the year of cinematic grief. Right on schedule comes the first of this late winter’s yearly horror offerings. By now most know that outside of Halloween, the months of January and February are prime time for horror films to be unleashed. Most of these films, such as 2008’s One Missed Call, are uninspired dogs, capitalizing on every well-worn horror trope and believing that adding more blood or jumps makes for a higher level of terror. Other times, this period of the year can bring forth a surprise or two, such as last year’s vastly underrated The Boy. This week sees the first of the season’s horror hopefuls in The Bye Bye Man, which oddly, and sadly, manages to be a mixture of what makes and breaks a true horror film during this time of year.
In The Bye Bye Man, college student Elliot (Douglas Smith), girlfriend Sasha (Cressida Bonas) and best friend John (Lucien Laviscount) move into an old two-story house as a way to avoid living on campus. Immediately following a housewarming party, the trio hold a seance in the house as a way of ridding any evil that may be lurking. When the three begin to experience strange occurrences and behavior, Elliot investigates and discovers they are under the control of the Bye Bye Man (Doug Jones); a malevolent figure who destroys anyone knowing of his existence and dares to speak his name.
Yes, this horror film is a dud. No question. There’s just so much that simply does not work here. First off, there’s the hopelessly sloppy editing which was done no doubt to ensure the film received a PG-13 rating (despite the fact that such a rating is a turn-off for the very audience the film is targeted for). This has such a grave effect on the story as a whole with large aspects of exposition missing, including most importantly, the mythology of the film’s titular character. Other aspects of the production that induce eye rolling are shoddy production values and cartoonish caricatures disguised as people. Worst of all however is the way The Bye Bye Man mistreats its three main characters by stripping them of logic and having them act as if they KNOW they’re in a horror movie.
And yet, there are a number of aspects throughout The Bye Bye Man that all seem to be trying to be in a better movie than the one they’re in. First of all, the movie has creepy atmosphere to spare. One would expect a film with as many shoddily-made qualities as this to overdo the visual aspects, but this is a gloomy-looking film with muted colors and tones, all of which give off a decidedly dark beauty that’s more than appropriate. While one of my strongest initial complaints was that despite causing so much death, the Bye Bye Man himself never really does anything other than hang around and stare at his intended victims. Upon further thought I realized that’s all he HAS to do. His presence alone instigates horror in his victims and it’s the individuals themselves who let the terror inside them grow to maddening levels, which eventually includes seeing visions of their darkest fears and insecurities. In fact it’s this very element, when the characters are trying to decipher whether what they’re seeing in front of their eyes is real or not, which ultimately saves The Bye Bye Man from being an absolute failure.
Sometimes with a film like this, it’s more appropriate to rate characters rather than performances since the same archetypes make appearances here just as they do in most every film of this genre. Jones, with his deep eyes and lanky stature, makes as creepy a monster as you would expect, even if his screen time is severely limited. Jenna Kanell does well as Sasha’s psychic friend, but Carrie-Anne Moss does second-rate Marishka Hargitay as a local police detective. The real surprise is Faye Dunaway who shows up in a small, but wholly enjoyable, supporting turn as Widow Redmon, bringing everything she’s got as the wise older person with all the answers.
Fans of modern horror will certainly be able to look at The Bye Bye Man as a rip-off of the much buzzed about documentary Beware the Slenderman, which chronicles the true-life case of a pair of teenage girls who murdered their close friend because a mysterious figure on the internet told them to. The comparisons are so obvious, that it makes the errors in this film all the more glaring and unforgivable. Nonetheless, there will be those who go to this movie wanting a creepy experience and for some, that’s what they’ll get. For the others, The Bye Bye Man is at least a noticeably flawed, yet slightly diverting enough way to kill time until Split comes out next week.
