What’s in a name? This movie explores the summoning power of words when three college kids, Elliot, Sasha, and John move into a spooky off-campus house and unknowingly unleash a supernatural serial killer called the Bye Bye Man.

It’s kind of like Candyman for a new era. What makes it interesting is the subtle scares and the psychological downward spiral of the characters. Is there really a Bye Bye Man or is it just the characters going nuts?

There were some moments of awful acting (mostly screaming parts) and the story missed the mark a couple of times. There were some really tense moments and times when I expected jump scares, but was pleasantly surprised when the choice was made to not go with the easy terror. Instead there was a lot of building suspense and keeping the story mysterious. The ending is both perfectly fitting and bittersweet.

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Available to stream on: Netflix (subscription required)