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The Bye Bye Man

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The Bye Bye Man
Theatrical release poster
Directed byStacy Title
Written byJonathan Penner
Starring
CinematographyJames Kniest
Edited byKen Blackwell
Music byThe Newton Brothers
Distributed bySTX Entertainment
Release date
  • January 13, 2017 (2017-01-13) (United States)
Running time
96 minutes[1]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$7.4 million[2][3]
Box office$16.6 million[3]

The Bye Bye Man is a 2017 American horror thriller film directed by Stacy Title and written by Jonathan Penner, based on the chapter "The Bridge to Body Island" in Robert Damon Schneck's book The President's Vampire. The film stars Douglas Smith, Lucien Laviscount, Cressida Bonas, Doug Jones, Carrie-Anne Moss, Faye Dunaway and Jenna Kanell. Principal photography began on November 2, 2015 in Cleveland, Ohio. STX Entertainment released the film on January 13, 2017. While the film received negative reviews, it has grossed $16 million on a budget of $7.4 million.

Plot

In the late 1960's, a mass murder occurs in which a man murders many people on his block, saying that "the name" cannot be said. As he shoots the neighbors, he continuously asks if anyone spoke about "the name".

In modern days, Elliot, his girlfriend Sasha, and best friend John move into an off-campus house not far from their college. They soon find something mysterious is happening--Sasha develops a strange cough, and Elliot finds coins in a nightstand that continuously reappear. When he opens the nightstand further, he finds writing consisting of "don't think it, don't say it", "don't say it, don't think it", and ultimately a name: the Bye Bye man. During a seance involving their friend Kim, the name is mentioned.

Sasha continues to become sick as Elliot and John start experiencing hallucinations and stranger activity. Elliot begins to suspect that Sasha is cheating on him with John. Elliot's brother Virgil also becomes suspicious. As Elliot investigates, Kim is killed after she is stuck by a train. Elliot is taken in for questioning by Detective Shaw, but he manages to avoid potential incarceration when Kim's suicide note revealed she killed her roommate and was planning on killing Elliot, Sasha, and John.

Mrs. Watkins, the librarian, shows Elliot a dossier detailing more info about the Bye Bye man; a teenager killed his family and told detectives that "the bye bye man made me do it". The same detective who investigated this later became the mass shooter during the 60's, who killed himself soon after realizing people knew about the Bye Bye man. Elliot also visits the widow of the detective, who reveals that the curse causes insanity, hallucinations, and eventually death. Signs of his coming are coins mysteriously appearing, sounds of a train, and a large, skinless hound. The only way to prevent it is to not think of his name or speak of him. If someone already knows, they must be killed, and the first one to know must end their life as well. Mrs. Watkins is hit by Elliot's car by accident, beforehand killing everyone in the library and most likely coming for Elliot next. He limps home after escaping the wreckage to protect Sasha.

Meanwhile, Sasha and John are also suffering from the hallucinations; she sees John as Elliot, and John sees Sasha as the corpse of Kim. Elliot gets home and finds John stabbing Sasha. He shoots John after fighting him back, but after Elliot picks up the corpse of John again, it is revealed to have been Sasha that was stabbing John; therefore, Elliot killed Sasha.

The Bye Bye man soon appears, and provides Elliot a hallucination. He gets to the front room, where Virgil and his daughter Alice are on the other side of the door. Elliot keeps them away long enough for him to shoot himself with a gun. Virgil and Alice get away before the entire house goes up in flames.

While riding home, Alice reveals she found the coins from the nightstand being near the trash, along with the writing within it. However, she could not read it due to her poor night vision. Detective Shaw arrives at the scene as well, where John is found to be alive but wounded. He whispers "Bye Bye" into her ear, hinting that the curse is going to start all over again.

Cast

Production

On September 11, 2014, TWC-Dimension acquired the worldwide distribution rights of the supernatural thriller film The Bye Bye Man, which Jonathan Penner adapted from "The Bridge to Body Island", a chapter in Robert Damon Schneck's non-fiction book The President's Vampire.[7] "The Bridge to Body Island" tells an allegedly true story that was related to Schneck.

Stacy Title would direct the film, which Intrepid Pictures would produce its founder Trevor Macy.[7] On June 23, 2015, Los Angeles Media Fund came on board to finance and co-produce the film.[8] Jeffrey Soros and Simon Horsman would also produce the film through LAMF.[8] On November 4, 2015, STX Entertainment acquired the worldwide distribution rights to the film, and it would also co-finance the film.[9] David Prior also adapted the book along with Penner. Melinda Nishioka is a co-producer of the film.[9]

Principal photography on the film began on November 2, 2015 in Cleveland, Ohio,[4][10] and wrapped on December 11, 2015.[11]

Release

The Bye Bye Man was released on January 13, 2017.[12] It had originally been scheduled to release on October 14, 2016, before being moved up to June 3, 2016, and later back to December 9, 2016.[13][14]

Box office

As of January 15, 2017, The Bye Bye Man has grossed $13.4 million in the United States and Canada and $1.3 million in other territories for a worldwide total of $14.7 million, against a production budget of $7.4 million.[3]

In North America the film was released alongside Monster Trucks and Sleepless, as well as the wide releases of Silence, Patriots Day and Live by Night, and was expected to gross around $10 million from 2,220 theaters in its opening weekend.[2] It ended up opening $13.4 million, finishing above expectations and 5th at the box office.[15]

Critical response

The Bye Bye Man received generally negative reviews from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 28% based on 47 reviews with an average rating of 3.7/10.[16] On Metacritic, the film has a score of 35 out of 100 based on 20 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".[17] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "C" on an A+ to F scale.[18]

The A.V. Club said, "on top of the general hoariness, this is also an uncommonly, at times unbelievably inept movie; from its acting to its script to most of its technical aspects, it feels barely fit for the big screen. The Bye Bye Man is so bad, in fact, that it retroactively improves the half-assed Hollywood horror that it’d be lucky to better resemble."[19] Kalyn Corrigan, writing for Bloody Disgusting, said the film had "poorly developed characters", a "muddled mythology", and "horribly shoddy editing" ultimately giving the film a 2/5 rating.[20] Jake Dee for JoBlo.com said "in a room full of 200 or so public patrons, the film drew far more auditory laughs than terrified gasps" and awarded it a 3/10 rating.[21]

References

  1. ^ "The Bye Bye Man (15)". British Board of Film Classification. December 13, 2016. Retrieved December 13, 2016.
  2. ^ a b "Mark Wahlberg's 'Patriots Day' and 'La La Land' to battle 'Hidden Figures' for box office win". Los Angeles Times.
  3. ^ a b c "The Bye Bye Man (2017)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved January 16, 2016.
  4. ^ a b c d e McNary, Dave (September 24, 2015). "Doug Jones Starring in Horror-Thriller 'Bye Bye Man'". variety.com. Retrieved November 12, 2015.
  5. ^ a b c d A. Lincoln, Ross (November 20, 2015). "'The Bye Bye Man' Says Hi To Carrie-Anne Moss, Faye Dunaway". Deadline. Retrieved December 31, 2015.
  6. ^ McNary, Dave (November 11, 2015). "Michael Trucco Joins Horror-Thriller 'The Bye Bye Man'". variety.com. Retrieved November 12, 2015.
  7. ^ a b Siegemund-Broka, Austin (September 11, 2014). "TWC-Dimension Picks Up Horror Thriller 'The Bye Bye Man' for Worldwide". hollywoodreporter.com. Retrieved November 12, 2015.
  8. ^ a b Fleming Jr, Mike (June 23, 2015). "Intrepid Pictures Supernatural Thriller 'Bye Bye Man' Finds Funding From Los Angeles Media Fund". deadline.com. Retrieved November 12, 2015.
  9. ^ a b Busch, Anita (November 4, 2015). "STX Says Hello To Horror Flick 'The Bye Bye Man'". deadline.com. Retrieved November 10, 2015.
  10. ^ "On the Set for 11/6/15: Emily Blunt and Luke Evans Start 'Girl on the Train', Brad Pitt Wraps 'Lost City of Z'". ssninsider.com. November 6, 2015. Retrieved November 10, 2015.
  11. ^ "On the Set 12/11/15: James Franco and Seth Rogen Start 'The Disaster Artist', Owen Wilson & Ed Helms Wrap 'Bastards'". ssninsider.com. December 11, 2015. Retrieved December 13, 2015.
  12. ^ "'Bye Bye Man' Release Date Shifted Again By STX Entertainment". Deadline. April 21, 2016.
  13. ^ "STX Thriller 'Bye Bye Man' Moved Up for June Release". Variety. March 11, 2016.
  14. ^ "STX Shifts Release Dates For 'Bye Bye Man' & 'The Space Between Us'". Deadline. September 15, 2016.
  15. ^ "'Hidden Figures' Stays Smart, But Why Are So Many Movies Bombing Over MLK Weekend?". Deadline.com.
  16. ^ "The Bye Bye Man (2017)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved January 13, 2017.
  17. ^ "The Bye Bye Man reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved January 13, 2017.
  18. ^ "CinemaScore". cinemascore.com.
  19. ^ A.A. Dowd. "No, you seriously shouldn't think about The Bye Bye Man—or see it, for that matter". The A.V. Club.
  20. ^ Corrigan, Kalyn (January 13, 2017). "[Review] 'The Bye Bye Man' — The "Why Why Was This Made Man"". Bloody Disgusting. Retrieved January 14, 2017.
  21. ^ Dee, Jake (January 13, 2017). "The Bye Bye Man (Movie Review)". JoBlo.com. Retrieved January 14, 2017.
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