Review: THE BYE BYE MAN (The Book)

A couple of weeks or so ago, I posted my review of the new film THE BYE BYE MAN, expressing my disappointment with it. It hardly seems I am alone in my sentiments, as I have not seen even one favorable review of the film from any of the major Horror sites. (I never consult mainstream sites or useless (and biased) aggregate sites like rottentomatoes. The “normal” people NEVER “get” genre pictures, and no commoner is qualified to appraise the value of one. When all the geek sites are in agreement, however, that a particular film isn’t any good, well…Anyway, I found the premise of the movie intriguing and informed readers of my intention to research the allegedly true story behind the film. I promptly ordered the book, THE BYE BYE MAN AND OTHER STRANGE-BUT-TRUE TALES, and I just finished reading it. In this case, most assuredly, the book is, as the old cliché goes, better than the movie.

Some readers, to go by online reviews I’ve read, objected to the book’s more scholarly approach to its subject material, but the author, Robert Damon Schneck, is more of a folklorist than an entertainer. Personally I found the work eminently readable. As it turns out, the segment on the Bye Bye Man is only one of several stories featured in the book, all of which are entertaining and none of which, I confess, I’d ever heard of before. The Bye Bye Man, though, is the star (hence the change of the book’s title from THE PRESIDENT’S VAMPIRE for this new print run) and his story, “The Bridge to Body Island,” is the anthology’s longest. So just how different is the movie from its source material? Very. The basic concept of the figure is the same: He’s a blind psychic albino serial killer who knows if you’re thinking about him and will come kill you for it. The hapless victims inadvertently contact him through a Ouija board. And that’s it. In real life, those “victims” are all still alive, and only one of them ever had a possible sighting-slash-encounter with the Bye Bye Man. (They did experience a run of bad luck, though.) In the book the Bye Bye Man creates a construct, called “Gloomsinger,” out of the tongues and eyes of his victims, an entity which he then uses to seek out his prey. In the movie, this thing is depicted as a hellhound. In the book, no physical descriptions are given. But if you’re thinking about how promising the character sounds, how unique is his mythos, and how easily it should translate into a successful film, then you can appreciate the disappointment I mentioned in the previous paragraph. The movie was such a wasted opportunity. The Bye Bye Man deserved way better. Still, if they hadn’t made the movie, I likely would never have learned about him at all, so at least there’s that.

I would recommend you all get yourself a copy of THE BYE BYE MAN. It isn’t a Horror story, just a creepy examination. Still, it’s well worth a read. Just don’t think about the Bye Bye Man TOO too much before falling asleep. No reason to risk it, right?

By The Evil Cheezman

WAYNE MILLER is the owner and creative director of EVIL CHEEZ PRODUCTIONS (www.evilcheezproductions.blogspot.com, www.facebook.com/evilcheezproductions), specializing in theatrical performances and haunted attractions. He has written, produced and directed (and occasionally acted in) over a dozen plays, most of them in the Horror and Crime genres. His first novel, THE CONFESSIONS OF SAINT CHRISTOPHER: WEREWOLF, is available for purchase at https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/734763 MORTUI VELOCES SUNT!

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