37
Metascore
22 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 60The Hollywood ReporterJustin LoweThe Hollywood ReporterJustin LoweTitle deploys a fairly effective range of horror techniques, including jump scares, misdirection and some oddly unattractive VFX to ratchet up the tension, although gore is at a minimum.
- 50VarietyOwen GleibermanVarietyOwen GleibermanEven when it seems to be making things up as it goes along, its slapdash hallucinatory quality is a token gesture toward placing you inside the characters’ heads.
- 40Austin ChronicleSteve DavisAustin ChronicleSteve DavisThe borderline campy The Bye Bye Man is a horror movie in search of an urban legend. Based on a chapter in the 2005 collection of allegedly strange-but-true paranormal tales "The President’s Vampire," the premise is second-rate Stephen King.
- 40Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzArizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzWhat we’re left with are a few PG-13 murders, uninspired performances, some not-so-scary urban legends and a couple of actresses who must be wondering how they got here.
- 38Boston GlobePeter KeoughBoston GlobePeter KeoughThe concept is derivative of about a dozen other movies and their sequels.
- 38Movie NationRoger MooreMovie NationRoger MooreThe Bye Bye Man is a moldy slice of Wisconsin-set cheese, a horror film that manages as many unwanted laughs as frights.
- 30TheWrapRobert AbeleTheWrapRobert AbeleTitle’s command of the material is haphazard, her direction not artful enough to know when expository clunkiness is undercutting the chance to dig into the meat of personalities in deterioration.
- 25The PlaylistKimber MyersThe PlaylistKimber MyersThe Bye Bye Man just skirts so-bad-it’s-good territory, unintentionally making the audience laugh more than they gasp.
- 20We Got This CoveredMatt DonatoWe Got This CoveredMatt DonatoThe Bye Bye Man is an unfathomably inept horror film; one that’s an obvious byproduct of The Babadook/It Follows brand of horror success. It is, without apology, one of the emptiest, nonsensical haunted thrillers ever to fail genre audiences.