I have only ever heard negative things about this movie, and I agree. That said, I’m here to highlight the good that it does, because it’s more than you might think. Warning: spoilers ahead!
Don’t think it, don’t say it — those are the rules. Follow them and you won’t die. Trouble is, the Bye Bye Man makes it incredibly hard to do so. A couple and their best friend move into off-campus housing, but almost immediately start experiencing weird phenomena like zoning out and strange scratching noises. When scribbled-down instructions and an old coin are found hidden in a nightstand drawer, the Bye Bye Man — a grotesque humanoid creature in a long coat and hood, followed by a monstrous hound — makes his appearance, the threesome begin to hallucinate and attack/kill those around them. All hope is lost when they figure out that thinking of him and spreading his name to others only furthers the destruction and puts others (and themselves) in mortal danger.
What was going to be another supernatural slasher quickly turned into the joke of the town when viewers commented on the kinda dumb name and lack of good story. It only hurt the movie further when paired with not-so-great writing and a monster with no reasonable semblance of a background. Don’t get me wrong, Halloween‘s Michael Myers originally had very little to go off of and we only saw Jaws‘ Bruce the Shark at the end, but for someone as complicated as the Bye Bye Man, there really should have been a better effort put forth for why he even exists. On top of that, y’all got creature legend Doug Jones to star as the killer; even he couldn’t save this movie. One would think it’s low Rotten Tomatoes scores would keep this bad boy out for the count. There are a few reasons why the fight isn’t over yet.
Specific dialog.
Yes, for the most part, I’d agree with people that what characters say in this movie is either dumb, irrelevant, or unlikely to be said by an actual college-aged person. But there are three quotes in particular that stuck out to me.
Are you deaf or are you just defective?
Widow Redmon
Goddamn lady! This old woman really got no types of chill! Understandable, since she’s the widow of the man who went on a shooting rampage at the beginning of the movie and was probably the town leper after that. Nothing particular is notable about this quote, except that it’s hilariously un-PC. Same with an exchange between housemate Sasha and the flowershop owner they’re renting the house from:
Sasha: It’s really cold in here.
Mr. Daizy: It’s a hothouse. It’s actually not cold at all, honey. Maybe you should be home in bed.
Sasha and Mr. Daizy
I love these types of exchanges because at this point in the movie, about halfway through, I was getting angry and tuned out. This brought me a good chuckle and got me through to the end, where we get another exchange between housemate Elliot’s older brother and niece. We are clued in that she saw the writing inside the nightstand, and knowing that if she repeats the name or thinks about the Bye Bye Man, the whole cycle will begin again and Elliot’s death will be all for naught. When her dad asks what she saw inside the stand, she exclaims:
You know I can’t read in the dark!
Alice
And that is what I like to call a great example of a red herring or twist. We all thought this poor kid was going to unwittingly start the curse again, but she wasn’t actually able to read the writing, preventing that scenario. This gives way to the actual ending when it’s repeated by a lone survivor.
Memes and Culture Significance
For a while there, The Bye Bye Man was getting memed hard. Everyone was making jokes about it, and even now you still see some remanence coming up. And although it’s heavily made fun of, the movie is remembered. “All press is good press” was never truer. It’s also a call to a real-life game. Everyone knows The Game (and you all just lost, btw). Like The Game, thinking and talking about the Bye Bye Man makes him stronger, more prevalent, more dangerous, and just harder to get rid of. Before this was really solidified and expected in horror, The Bye Bye Man made these connections between his lore and our culture in a meta way without us realizing it. It’s actually a smart move that should be given credit.
True Crime’s Wet Dream
And I’d say the same with the opening scene. We see Leigh Whannell as Larry Redmon going around shooting people with a shotgun. Holy shit, dude. If there was ever a visualization to any of these true crime podcasts, that would be it. I was actually very surprised seeing this open, because I went in knowing this movie was going to be trash. I was definitely taken aback and jittery after seeing a bunch of early-afternoon murders happen so casually in a suburban neighborhood. Not only that, but it gave me a whole other avenue for searching up the macabre: Dead Files. I have no idea if those are really what you call them, but I do know that plenty of news outlets have reports and news stories that go unaired and unprinted. It’s a treasure trove for those looking at the darker side of life. If anything, The Bye Bye Man should be praised by true crime fans on multiple levels!
I’m not going to sit here and say that The Bye Bye Man is great. I don’t think it is. Truthfully, I was yelling at my screen and defaulting to my phone at pretty much everything, waiting desperately for it to be over. However, there is always a light in something bad, and no movie is completely terrible. So really, The Bye Bye Man has a lot more to offer than tired groans and rolling eyes.
It’s a bad movie? The answer is simple: Don’t think it. Don’t say it.
What did you think of this 2017 “failure?” Let us know in the comments!
