PRESENTS

The Bye Bye Man sets itself up to be serviceable creepy fare, but quickly loses what precious little steam it has to begin with. Sound albeit familiar ideas are watered down to the point of being wasted, and the absurd ineptitude of its wholly unlikable characters locks it into a frustrating holding pattern that drags through most of the film's runtime. Even the Bye Bye Man himself is a let down as he never really lives up to the haunting dread established by his own premise. Not to sound needlessly existential, but by the time things wrap up, one can't help but wonder what the point of any of it was.