The Netflix Horror So Bad It’s Actually Good
PG-13 horror movies are difficult to fault because they’re a great way to introduce a younger audience to the genre without traumatizing them for life. 2017’s The Bye Bye Man is one of those films, but the only thing it introduces to its audience is a sloppy supernatural premise that has been done to death. Falling into “so bad it’s good” territory, The Bye Bye Man likely won’t scare off any newcomers, but it will pique their curiosity as it lays out all of the tropes that a more seasoned horror fan is already familiar with.
Similar To The Game
To explain the premise of The Bye Bye Man, we’re going to need to remind you about “The Game.” Millennials of a certain age may recall playing The Game, a form of psychological torture that involved not thinking about The Game because the only way to win The Game is to not think about it. Those who think about The Game lose The Game, and have to announce that they just lost The Game to everybody in the room.
Not unlike The Game, the only escape from the Bye Bye Man is the sweet release of death.
The Bye Bye Man
Boasting the tagline “don’t say it, don’t think it,” The Bye Bye Man kicks off in 1969 when a man named Larry (Leigh Whannell) systematically shoots his neighbors and friends to death because he fears that a curse has taken hold of his community. In one of the more jarring opening sequences that you’ll find in a PG-13 movie, Larry interrogates his subjects before shooting them, asking them if they said “the name.”
The narrative quickly shifts to the present day, when Elliot (Douglas Smith), his girlfriend, Sasha (Cressida Bonas), and their friend, John (Lucien Laviscount) move into a run-down house near their college campus. Shortly after moving in, Elliot discovers a mysterious coin on his nightstand, which leads him to discover writing scrawled inside the nightstand drawer that says the forbidden name: the Bye Bye Man. Naturally, the group of friends decides to hold a séance with their friend Kim (Jenna Kanell), and the name is mentioned out loud for all to hear.
What’s Real And What’s Fake?
From this point forward, the curse manifests in the real world, causing Elliot and John to experience hallucinations that make them question their sanity. Wanting to figure out what it all means, Elliot conducts research at the library and learns about Larry’s rampage. As the line between reality and hallucination becomes blurred, Elliot believes the same curse is following him and his friends, and that they will all experience a fate similar to Larry.
Great Jump Scares, Terrible Writing
On its surface, The Bye Bye Man has all the inner workings of a great PG-13 horror movie. But like other PG-13 films in the genre like Countdown and Darkness Falls, The Bye Bye Man relies too heavily on jump scares and CGI, and fails to fully explain why the supernatural entity exists.
Upon its theatrical release, The Bye Bye Man did quite well at the box office, and earned nearly $30 million against its $7.4 million production budget. Despite its box office returns, the supernatural horror film was absolutely destroyed by critics, earning an 18 percent critical score on Rotten Tomatoes.
Decide For Yourself
If you’re one for enhancing your viewing experience by reading reviews as a supplementary form of entertainment, The Bye Bye Man will not disappoint. Many of the audience reviews repurpose the film’s tagline, kicking off their analysis with the phrase “don’t watch it, don’t see it.” And we’re talking about page-long screeds about how this film failed to stick the landing.
The Bye Bye Man is a perfect gateway film for new horror fans to learn all of the tried-and-true tropes. It’s also a great film to watch with friends as you tally every predictable twist and turn in an effort to gamify the viewing experience. With a tight run-time of 90 minutes, you’ve got nothing to lose by watching this ill-fated supernatural horror flick on Netflix.
