“Bye Bye Man”, a dark, dramatic movie that runs a little over an hour and a half, will leave viewers going insane if they truly believe the “Bye Bye Man” exists.

The movie, rated PG-13, directed by Stacey Title and written by Jonathan Penner, follows a group of three teenagers– two on baseball scholarships, and a girl, who is the girlfriend of one of the boys and attends the same college as them.

The boys in the movie, Elliot, portrayed by Douglas Smith, and John, portrayed by Lucien Laviscount, have been lifelong friends. They have known each other since childhood and received baseball scholarships to the same school. Elliott is dating Sasha, played by Cressida Bonas.

The Bye Bye Man, the demonic character in the movie, finds his way into people’s heads, and once he’s in there, there is no way the person can forget about him.

“Don’t say it; don’t think it” is the movie’s slogan that the characters repeat throughout the movie to try to get the demon out of their head.

The movie begins in a small Wisconsin town. A man by the name of Larry, portrayed by Leigh Whannell, travels around his neighborhood killing anyone who he thinks has gained knowledge of the demon known as Bye Bye Man.

He believes that the only way the demon will die is if the people who have knowledge of the creature dies. After he has killed everyone he believes knows of the Bye Bye Man, he kills the only last person with knowledge of the creature and the horrors of it– himself.

The film then shifts over to the three college friends who move into the haunted house where the whole Bye Bye Man started. The movie then continues to follow the friends as the Bye Bye Man works itself deeper and deeper into their heads and drives them insane.

It makes them see things that aren’t there, think things that aren’t relevant, and do things they don’t realize they’ve done.

“Don’t say it; don’t think it.” “Don’t say it; don’t think it.” “Don’t say it; don’t think it.”

In fact, the creature drives the friends so insane, they only seem as if they are going to self-implode and repeat the fate of Larry from the beginning of the movie. However, to know what happens to the friends in the end, viewers will have to see the thriller on their own.

“Bye Bye Man” received a 22 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes and 3.8/10 by IMDB. But these are critics, and their job is to find ways to make movies seem worse than they really are, right?

In my opinion, the movie was very good.

In fact, the best part of the movie was the storyline. It was a perfect balance of creativity and connection to the audience. It planted a seed in the audience’s head and somewhat made them think to themselves, “Don’t say it; don’t think it.”

The acting also was not as bad as critics said it was. Yes, it could’ve been better, but for the budget it was operating on, it was well done.

The only part of the movie that could have been a little better was the character development.

The characters were thrown in at the beginning without any background information. However, some information does get released later on in the movie. Perhaps the biggest part that the movie left out was the fact that the two boys played baseball, and not once did they show the boys at baseball practice or using their baseball skills to solve any situations.

I enjoyed the movie anyway. For example, I thought the acting during the train scene, where Elliot and another character named Kim are running toward the train tracks because Kim thinks she has seen something frightening, was extremely realistic.

Furthermore, the setting was relevant at the beginning of the movie and introduces the “Bye Bye Man” perfectly. While the setting is typical for a horror movie, with some development, the setting added intricate aspects to the film like a small, little door and the dresser with writing in it– definitely see the movie to understand these items’ significance.

In the end, the movie was good for what it was worth. Movies like “The Conjuring” and “Rings” had budgets of $20 million and $32 million; no wonder they were so good, and the critics thought so highly of them. “Bye Bye Man” was only operating on a budget of $7.4 million and made the best of it.