Horror is a tricky realm to be in nowadays. People don't get scared like they used to, making it a difficult task to do. "The Bye Bye Man" attempts to give a fright by letting the viewers mess with their own heads out of curiosity.
The synopsis of the story talks about three college students who move to an old, off-campus house, looking for some privacy and fun. It quickly went south as they are haunted by an eerie, malevolent being known as "the Bye Bye man." The only way to steer clear of the possession is by not thinking of him or even saying his name, which can be very problematic.
Judging from the trailer, the three look extremely terrified by what the evil being can do. They try their best to keep the secret of invoking him in order to prevent spreading the nightmarish influence, but it appears things aren't as easy as it seems.
The trailer and the title itself have drawn mixed reactions from netizens. Some see it as possibly one of the scariest movies of the generation, while some felt the film could have done better. A Facebook user even likened the concept to an overrated ripoff of the Internet's boogieman, Slender.
CDA News compares the trailer to Candyman, which operates on the same principle. Calling his name draws him to whoever speaks his name, and he does unimaginable things. The Bye Bye man, on the other hand, is a nastier version that apparently could coax the caller to kill as many as one possibly can, or he can create illusions to bring the caller to his horrendous death.
As per Movie Pilot, "The Bye Bye Man" is based on historian Robert Damon Schneck's work called "The Bridge to Body Island." Schneck explained it was based on allegedly true accounts from some of his acquaintances in Wisconsin, who had supernatural encounters using an Ouija board.
Whether it is true or not, it appears to be a personification of man's deepest fears that drives him mad, and that is depicted in the trailer. The more a person obsesses with the fear, the more it becomes real and envelops his entire being.
"The Bye Bye Man" says hello to movie spectators on Jan. 13, 2017.
