Quick Reviews: The Bye-Bye Man

Is the most derided Film of the Year so far (save for maybe The Snowman or Geostorm) worthy of such hate?  Let's see...

In a Cold Open in 1969, this guy- aka the Director of Insidious: Chapter 3!- kills his family and all that seem to know about a strange figure.

In a much less interesting Plot, these three move into a House in the Present.  The Lead Guy finds a carving in an old Desk mentioning 'The Bye-Bye Man.'

Considering the lengths we see the guy go to, why would he do that?  Oh right- the Plot.

After feeling something weird during a Party full of drinking and one unattended Child, they do a Séance with the Girlfriend's Psychic-leaning Friend.  It doesn't go well.

Following that, all involved start to see weird visions courtesy of you-know-who.  When in doubt, make your Villain vague and make his powers limitless!

As they try not to Think It or Say It (TM?), he finally shows himself.  If you want to know who this guy is, too freaking bad!  We have Jump Scares and Hallucinations to focus on!

Will The Bye-Bye Man succeed?  Is this a sillier name than Pazuzu?  To find out the answer (to the first question), watch the Film.

On the plus side, I just showed you the creature, so you can skip it if you *only* wanted to see it.

Pretty damn bad.  The good- some Visuals are freaky and the make-up (seen above) is good.  The bad- nearly everything else.  What is this creature?  What is his goal?  You never know anything of the sort.  I guess they were saving it for the Sequel- oops.  The only good parts of the Film are predicated upon you accepting the strange, silly idea of this creature.  Knowing his name means that he can infect you and somehow grows stronger the more you say it or think it.  I get it- an enigmatic, spiritual creature can be scarier.  I also get that this is all sorts of cheating.  Speaking of cheating, the Film was apparently cut to get a PG-13 Rating and it shows.  Someone is shot in the chest with a shotgun- no blood.  Someone is shot at close range- no blood.  Someone is run over by a train- no blood!  You only see it in visions or on objects, which I guess is an exception that the MPAA has made.  The whole thing is just a pile of silliness and really not scary.  The Villain looks neat, but has no clear motivation and our Heroes are just kind of unlikable.  That kid sure is adorable, but that's really it.  Nobody comes off all that good here, not even Carrie-Ann Moss.  On the plus side, people are too busy focusing on her being in Iron Fist & The Defenders to remember this (which was shot in 2015!).  Oops.  I'll leave you with the Film's hilariously-bad attempt at 'Viral Marketing'...

Just about as bad as everyone said at the time.  At best, it is uninspired.  At worst, everything else about it.