\u201cThe Bye Man\u201d is one of those unoriginal, unintelligent horror movies studios dump into theaters every so often, seen and quickly forgotten if they\u2019re seen at all.
There are a couple of scary things about it, though: appearances by Carrie-Anne Moss and Faye Dunaway. Their agents must be terrified.
The film, directed by Stacy Title, is a kind of riff on the \u201cBloody Mary\u201d story, or the \u201cCandyman\u201d films, even \u201cBeetlejuice.\u201d In those tales, you say the entity\u2019s name a certain number of times and it appears, then kills you (except in the case of Beetlejuice, in which Michael Keaton shows up and makes you laugh).
The film begins with a prologue set in the 1960s when a man drives up to a house, asks the people inside if they told anyone the name and then shoots them to death.
Then he goes for the neighbors. And you thought solicitors were bad.
Cut to present time. College student Elliot (Douglas Smith), his girlfriend Sasha (Cressida Bonas) and Elliot\u2019s longtime friend John (Lucien Laviscount) move into an old house near campus. There are hints of tragedy in Elliot\u2019s past, though they are not explored very deeply \u2014 fitting, because nothing else in the film is, either. There are strange noises and sightings and a coin that keeps appearing, along with a big coat that hangs in the corner and appears occasionally to be a scary-looking man.
Meanwhile Elliot finds a night stand with the words \u201cDon\u2019t say it\u201d and \u201cDon\u2019t think it\u201d written over and over in the drawer; underneath, carved into the wood, are the words \u201cThe Bye Man.\u201d
Sasha\u2019s friend Kim (Jenna Kanell) tries to purge the house of bad vibes or whatever, and she and the other three wind up talking to spirits (Kim\u2019s got a gift for it). She senses the don\u2019t-say-it warning and Elliot blurts out the name.
It\u2019s all downhill from there.
They all start seeing things. Elliot does a little research and learns \u2026 almost nothing. We do find out that the man in the prologue was a reporter who had been writing about a teenage killer, and eventually everyone pieces together that if you say or think the Bye Man\u2019s name, he\u2019ll show up and kill you. Or possess you. And if you\u2019re dead his big demon dog-type creature will eat you.
Also a train with the serial number 4241 shows up every so often.
Why?
Who knows? It\u2019s not explained. There are a lot of holes in the story (Jonathan Penner\u2019s script is based on Robert Damon Schneck\u2019s story \u201cThe Bridge to Body Island,\u201d which evidently goes into greater detail). So what we\u2019re left with are a few PG-13 murders, uninspired performances, some not-so-scary urban legends and a couple of accomplished actresses who must be wondering how they got here.
Don\u2019t say it. Don\u2019t think it.
And whatever you do, don\u2019t see it.<\/p>\n

\n

\nSimilarity rank: 0\n<\/div>\n

Sentiment rank: -2.5<\/div>\n

\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n