The Bye Bye Man ... Say goodbye to it

A FEW hours after I had seen The Bye Bye Man, I had forgotten about it. In fact, I had forgotten that I

had even gone to the movies. That's how exciting director Stacy Title's haunted house flick is, and not even the cameo by veteran actress Faye Dunaway can save it.
   The screenplay is co-written by her husband Jonathan Penner and based on the book The Bridge To Body Island. 

   The Bye Bye Man is uninteresting because the scares and ideas come from a multitude of horror films. An evil spirit, who looks like Voldermort from the Harry Potter films, haunts those who say his name (Bye Bye Man) out loud. Voldermort can then manipulate what they see and hear and turn them against their friends.
    As usual, funny things happen to three varsity mates in Wisconsin who move into a rustic and isolated double-storey home. Why do funny things happen only when new people move into a home?
   Tall and lanky Elliot (tall and lanky Canadian Douglas Smith), who received a scholarship to go to

Prince Harry's ex Cressida Bonas shows off her treasured chest.

university, moves into the home with skinny blonde girlfriend Sasha (Cressida Bonas, an ex of Prince Harry). They are accompanied by handsome and muscular friend John (Lucien Laviscount).
  Elliot's brother, Virgil (Michael Trucco), tells him he should be studying instead of partying as the former got a scholarship.
    Elliot, meanwhile, tells his elder brother that he wants what the latter has: a wife and kid. Their parents died in an accident when they were young.
  Things start to go awry soon after, and the rest of the story is about preventing people from saying the name Bye Bye Man out loud. A person in the throes of the Bye Bye Man will repeatedly say: "Don't think it. Don't say it."
   The scares are nondescript. The people at the house notice funny things, and, as usual, they can't get a good night's sleep. They rush about seeking answers to their dilemma, and this even takes them to the varsity library. Ha ha. At least they put it to good use.
    Elliott talks about the Bye Bye Man using people's fear to strengthen itself.
   We shouldn't think about this film or say its name, lest we end up watching more ghastly flicks like it.


2 out of 5 stars

No more criticism, says Douglas Smith.