Sunday, January 15, 2017

The Overlook Theatre Reviews: The Bye Bye Man

of 11 viewers "Liked" "The Bye Bye Man" (2017, USA)
Here's what the creatures had to say:

Trash - "I've been looking forward to The Bye Bye Man since April when I first saw the trailer. It got delayed twice, but finally it's happened, I saw it, and I laughed so hard I got a headache. Is this movie good? No! It's a train wreck! Was I delighted the entire time? Yes! Bizarre acting, weird cartoony scares, unexpected nudity, a silly ghost man and his flesh dog -- The Bye Bye Man has it all. It's goofy as hell and it doesn't look like modern teen horror, which was a tad refreshing. Additionally, I enjoy any horror movie that has a language as a virus theme." - 3 Stars

Lord Battle - "The Bye Bye Man opens with the least gory neighborhood rampage to hit a cinema, a trio of pretty Hollywood characters comprised of: the most plastic feeling band t-shirt cycling hipster, untrustworthy slightly urban jock, and female whose personality written on paper reads "Girlfriend". The Bye Bye man himself is perhaps a friendly little brother to the Babadook and Bughuul... If you like glossy PG-13 Hollywood horror that misses its mark so bad it's funny, check out The Bye Bye Man." - 2.5 Stars

Clark Little - "An unoriginal and uninspiring "boogeyman" movie that starts off of the wrong foot and stumbles along for the rest of the way. Uninteresting characters mixed with a tired premise makes this a skip. However, I would be lying if I said that I did not laugh. Were the laughs intended, I really can't say. This movie is strangely bad. And that deserves something." - 2 Stars

Math Mage - "Hastur, Hastur, Hastur! I was misled by the preview thinking that this would be a modern take on the "it will get you if you say its name" concept. I was expecting the third act to escalate the rate of infection (someone says the name on TV, or even better: on Facebook) but no, it was the same old story. Recent horror films have drastically reduced the amount of time that characters waste not believing in whatever the problem is. But the characters still don't take an important logical step: tell plausible lies. Too often, they tell the truth and aren't believed until it's too late (if at all). Or they say nothing or make cryptic statements, which aren't helpful and encourage the curious to investigate. Especially in this film where a character specifically and clearly explains the situation without saying the cursed name. Yet no one thinks of doing that. Also: the film was mostly boring, the acting sucked, the titular villain was uninspired and the effects were terrible. I like The Conjuring 2 more now because the demon nun had better jumping out at you effects." - 2 Stars

The Ascendant - "Emerging 11 years after her previous attempt at the genre (Snoop Dogg’s Hood of Horror), director Stacy Title’s The Bye Bye Man (2017) only needed to achieve two separate things for me to truly buy into it. One, it needed to have a strong mythos. Two, The Bye Bye Man (as a character) needed to look like a million bucks. Stacy Title’s film (which was written by her husband, Johnathan Penner and based on a story by Author Robert Damon Schneck) does neither of these. For one, the mythos is somewhere in-between half-baked & non-existent. The Bye Bye Man’s mythos is lethargic. Viewers are left with far more questions than answers about this mysterious figure’s origins, which even the most mediocre horror icons have in spades. Secondly, The Bye Bye Man’s (visual) look is extremely lazy & under-developed. Apparently, there is a Horror Movie Character Generator on the internet that I am unaware of. The sheer ineptitude of this film is mind-boggling but the film’s (derivative) opening scene featuring Leigh Whannell (Saw, Insidious, Cooties) was a joy to watch in sea of garbage." - 1.5 Stars

The Impostor - "Instead of "Don't think it don't say it," the tagine for The Bye Bye Man should be "Don't pay it, don't see it". Honestly saw this coming; I went in with low expectations and I got what I was in for. The story is all over the place and has unnecessary scenes. Terrible acting especially from the lead actress whose scenes were lifeless. The actual Bye Bye Man sadly did nothing for the film. He wasn't as intimidating as I had hoped or made any impact. It's not the worst thing I've seen, it was really funny with a few standout moments I will think about and prolly still laugh about it. Overall this definitely would have been fine as a VOD release over a full blown theatrical release. I do think if it makes enough money they can do straight to dvd sequels we can all laugh with and enjoy." - 1.5 Stars

Dabbles - "So we went to see this movie, I was almost scared but by the 20 minute mark I figured I can handle it. By the end I literally lost all faith that I would be scared. Simply put this movie took me on a ride around the block, it went no where and was a waste of gas. I only gave it a star because some parts were funny. And the little girl was adorable. Don't think it, don't say it? Yeah just don't watch it, don't see it." - 1 Star

Huntress - "Okay, I understand wanting to make a teen appropriate horror movie, but if the entire story is dependent on a monster man, wouldn’t you want him to be memorable? Sadly, this movie carried on the Doug Jones curse, and he was completely underutilized, barely even moving in the scenes he was actually in. I did enjoy the Babadook-esque teasing of the audience before he actually showed up. This movie would have done better with an R rating and more freedom to gorify." 2.5 Stars

The Berkeley Blazer - "This is a silly movie that doesn't make much sense, and sometimes makes you laugh when it's trying to shock you. That being said, I low-key enjoyed most of this movie. While it's not particularly special it's also not particularly annoying, and the main characters and the liberal arts college town setting are affable enough. In many ways BBM stays on the likeable side of average. If you've seen all the good movies already and just feel like going to the theater for diversion, you certainly could do worse. But then you definitely could do better, too." - 3 Stars

KillDozer
- "The director of Snoop Dog's Hood of Horror is back to bring us another easily forgettable waste of time. Along side her is a writer whose coolest credit is that he had scenes in Jason Goes to Hell that were ultimately cut from the final product. My worst fear going into this film was about saying "bye bye" to my hard earned money to see it. I always give credit to those that go out and make their dreams a reality because it takes a lot to make a film and get it distributed but this movie is less than straight to dvd Wallmart $2 bin as it treats the audience like idiots and even worse is long and boring. Bad acting is easily forgivable depending on the situation and this was not one of those situations. Even the casual movie going crowd around me in the theater were unable to stay interested or even flinch at the awful jump scares. All in all it was a bad theatre going experience but only because of the film being viewed. This film is getting 1/2 star from me only because Faye Dunaway is in it. Do not share this film with anyone because the true curse of the Bye Bye Man is that it will waste your time and money while boring the hell out of you. So please listen to its tag line and "Don't think it, Don't say it ", and most importantly DON'T SEE IT!!" - 1.5 Stars



The Overlook Theatre Final Rating*
(Below is for after you've seen the film)

Down a dark corridor in the right wing of the Tanforan Century theatres is where the the creatures spilling in from the streets gathered, for a preview night screening of The Bye Bye Man. After scaring an angry man and a very young child out of their seats, we settled into the front row aka the row equipped with a hand rail you can set your feet on. The film disappointed the audience pretty quickly and halfway through people were letting out hearty belly laughs. I personally think this means it played better than Rob Zombie's 31 or The Forest but others seem to disagree. 
Below I have pick some highlights from the Reddit AMA from this past Friday the 13th, done by Stacy Title (director), her husband Jonathan Penner (writer, actor, three times Survivor contestant), and Trevor Macy (Producer of horror films including all of Mike Flanagan's) to promote their film, The Bye Bye Man.
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ILikeTooShootZombies - Did you choose the name bye bye man through deliberate choice as wanting a non threatening name like what a child would name the monster or did you view a more dignified name as something that would be unrepresentative of the movies content?

Stacy Title - It comes from our source material. There were real people who this (according to the book) happened to... So we stuck with it.

Jonathan Penner - The name was in the true life event/short story. We kept it because it really happened!
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Horror-Fan78 - Trevor - huge fan of "The Strangers" - were you and the filmmakers inspired by the French wave of home invasion thrillers like "Them" and "Inside"? Since movies like "You're Next" and "The Purge" appropriated the creepy masks from your film, what inspired you to give them masks?

Trevor Macy - Thank you! I think in the context of The Strangers (as well as the French films you mentioned), masks perversely serve to make the characters relatable - it could be anyone under there, and that's alarming. When you switch perspectives, which they do more in The Purge, it's equally alarming to see what people will do when anonymity acts as permission to indulge humanity's most base instincts. Either way they're a chilling storytelling tool.

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Colieoh - What is your favorite horror movie? What really scares you? Do you believe in ghosts?

Stacy Title - My favorite is Rosemary's Baby, I think the scariest is The Exorcist. When I was a kid Silent Scream scared the piss out of me! Happy Friday the 13th!!! I am scared of catastrophes. Disease, accidents, I am also paranoid!! Yes I do believe in ghosts. Last summer my son and I wanted a scare. Yes we are nuts. So we were in Maine. Portland has a big old cemetery. we were just walking around and said out loud. This is nothing! And right then. My phone starts playing a song that is not on my phone!!! U2's Iris. which is about his dead mother. It played loud!!!! and we ran home!

Colieoh - Do you think helping create horror movies fuels your paranoia?

Stacy Title - Yes. I think so. I was very jumpy myself making the Bye Bye Man!
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SwingAwayMarell - Did you settle on the name The Bye Bye Man because Monsturd was already taken?

Jonathan Penner - No but we considered 'You're a Dipshit'.

SwingAwayMarell - Well at least it'd speak directly to the audience that paid money to see this shit.
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Holmes02 - I hope I'm not mirroring another question but are there plans for an Oculus sequel?

Trevor Macy - Hi Everybody! There's an idea in the ether for an Oculus sequel, but it's still early days. We'll see how it evolves...
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Postachiopaul - Do you have any ideas for horror movies where someone lives in the walls?

Jonathan Penner - Yes, it's called 'Bacteria'.

Stacy Title - funny you ask that I wrote a kid's fantasy called the Wall People it was my first job in hollywood! never got made though.

Trevor Macy - Black Mold: the movie. It comes to life! Our hero is a mold abatement professional.
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TheLocalGiraffe - Why didn't you fully commit and call it "The Bye Bye Guy"? 

Jonathan Penner - We were going to call it The Local Giraffe' but it was taken too.

TheLocalGiraffe - What were some your of favorite scenes from any movie you took part in?

Jonathan Penner - I'm in the Bye bye man so check it out.
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Hello_My_Broskis - Why in the world did you think "The Bye Bye Man" was a good movie title?

Stacy Title - As I mentioned above... We used the name as it came from the source material. A book called The President's Vampire, strange but true tales of the USA by Robert Damon Schneck, the chapter about the Bye Bye Man was in a chapter called The Bridge to Body Island. So it comes from this non-fiction book. Not something we made up!

SetYourGoals - That doesn't mean it's a good title. Like half the comments here are about the name of the movie, not the movie itself. Seems like it might not have been the best title choice.
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Horror-Fan78 - How did Faye Dunaway become involved with The Bye Bye Man? What was it like working with her?

Stacy Title - We had a great time with her. Truly we asked!, it wasn't a big time commitment, her son was available to travel with her. She was very detailed, she challenged every line, every piece of lighting. She's a movie star for a reason. She pops.
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Willof_Fire - Does the bye bye man ever meet his nemesis, the hello hello man?

**Clark Little - The Hello Hello man wouldn't be his nemesis you dump. His nemesis is obviously the Hi Hi Man!
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Wuzhisname - Is it disheartening to see so many people focused on the name of the movie than the actual content of the story?

Jonathan Penner - I have no heart, so no.

Stacy Title - No it's okay. I can take it!
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- Lord Battle

The Overlook Theatre materialized at Centruy Theatres for a screening on 1/12/2017
*Based on the star ratings turned in by character reviewers, others viewed and got to "Dislike" or "Like" but that does not affect the rating.
** This was an off comment he made about the post

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