If you’re jangled by the jolts in the horror flick The Bye Bye Man, they may be compounded by a dose of been-there-seen-that.
The movie is new, but the locations are familiar.
Filmed in Northeast Ohio at the end of 2015, it hit theaters nationwide on, naturally, Friday the 13th. The six-week shoot hired several local cast and crew members and about 80 extras. Locations included Greenwood Farm in Richmond Heights, Farnam Manor in Richfield, Baldwin Wallace University in Berea, plus exteriors in Bath Township, Independence and Cleveland.
Directed by Stacy Title (Snoop Dogg’s Hood of Horror), the film is set in Wisconsin and follows three college students who move into a musty old house only to discover the presence of an insidious curse.
Saying or even thinking the name “Bye Bye Man” unleashes evil hallucinations and violent attacks. Thus the movie’s mantra: “Don’t say it! Don’t think it! Don’t say it! Don’t think it!”
Needless to say, people do say it (and think it) and several of them end up deranged, or dead. Or both.
The young trio includes Elliot (Douglas Smith), his best friend John (Lucien Laviscount) and Elliot’s girlfriend Sasha (Cressida Bonas, perhaps best-known for dating Britain’s Prince Harry, pre-Meghan Markle). They are joined by two veterans: Carrie-Anne Moss, of The Matrix fame, as a detective, and Oscar winner Faye Dunaway as the widow of a crazed killer.
There are also glimpses of the eerie BB man himself, played by Doug Jones, a hooded figure who looks like a sun-starved cousin of Emperor Palpatine from the Star Wars universe.
The Greater Cleveland Film Commission, led by Ivan Schwarz, spent two years trying to bring the film to Northeast Ohio. Title’s husband, Jonathan Penner, wrote the script, based on Robert Damon Schneck’s short story, The Bridge to Body Island.
On location
“Working with Stacy and Jonathan every day was such a pleasure,” said Cleveland-based casting director Lillian Pyles. “The whole atmosphere on the set was so calm, which is rare.”
Not normally a scary-movie aficionado, Pyles got caught up in the action.
“The makeup people were excellent,” she said. “One day I walked past the makeup truck and the Bye Bye Man came out and scared me to death. I totally jumped out of my skin.”
Pyles, who has worked on dozens of films, handled the Ohio casting and chose actors from more than 100 auditions. In addition to people, she also auditioned several dogs.
For a key police dog, she hired a Belgian Malinois from Sit Means Sit dog training in Copley. For the role of a police officer, Pyles found a police officer: Dan Anders, a sergeant in Independence.
Anders, with 24 years on the force, has a second career moonlighting on screen. He has appeared in several films, including a string of productions shot in Ohio: Draft Day, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Jenny’s Wedding and Alex Cross.
“I’ve been lucky because of my look and my background. I’m a 6-foot-3, 240-pound, prior-service Marine,” said Anders, whose big break was getting to punch out Matt Damon in a bar in Promised Land. Anders’ role: “Large Man.”
“I’m the big, intimidating-looking guy,” he said. “I was born into that. That’s not really a skill set. I was blessed with good Polish genes.”
Sometimes the best pretend police are the real thing.
“Occasionally the word goes out that films are looking for actual police officers because we walk and talk and carry ourselves like police. We know how to wear our belts, how to carry our weapons.”
Stunt crew
The weapons, stunts and fire-filled moments in The Bye Bye Man were handled by Richard “Rick” Fike and 12 members of his stunt crew. The Madison-based Fike is credited as the film’s stunt coordinator and special effects coordinator for pyrotechnics.
“We had a ton of stunts and a ton of special effects,” said Fike, who has worked on scores of films for more than 30 years. “There were also a lot of guns, bullet hits and squibs.”
Squibs are hidden devices worn by actors to simulate bullet hits and blood blasts.
The film has some gruesome moments, but it is not a gore-fest. It is rated PG-13 “for terror, horror violence, bloody images, sexual content, thematic elements, partial nudity, some language and teen drinking.”
Gauging the box office potential of The Bye Bye Man, the Hollywood Reporter surmised, “Lacking any significant genre-related competition over its opening weekend, [the film] could see decent numbers if the company’s saturation marketing campaign can motivate teens to get out of the house and into the theater.”
Fike is optimistic, invoking the S-word every movie studio longs to hear.
“I’m excited about this one,” he said. “It definitely leaves the door open for a sequel.”
Clint O’Connor can be reached at 330-996-3582 or coconnor@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow him on Twitter @ClintOMovies .