Hollywood is a strange place and some of the more interesting figures rack up half a dozen job titles in popular properties. Jonathan Penner, for example, is a character actor with appearances on various beloved film and TV projects, a three-time contestant on an iconic reality show, and the screenwriter of one of the worst horror films ever made.
Penner's screenwriting output comprises two features and one TV movie, each of which he collaborated on in some way with his late wife Stacy Title. Title directed the duo's first theatrical release, The Bye Bye Man in 2017, to mild financial success and overwhelming critical derision.
The Bye Bye Man is an adaptation of a single chapter from Robert Damon Schneck's 2005 novel The President's Vampire. Even though the story "The Bridge to Body Island" is an allegedly true story that takes up a couple of dozen pages of an anthology, it manages to be much more complete than the film. The 2017 film tells the story of a trio of college roommates who move into a new home and discover hints towards a dark secret. The villain of the piece, the hilariously titular Bye Bye Man, hunts and kills any person who has heard or seen his name. He is unstoppable, capable of teleportation and casting illusion, and can apparently override his victims' free will. Anyone who hears his name is a target, anyone that says it summons him, and the idea will theoretically destroy the world if allowed to spread. This already weak concept is dragged down by terrible acting, abysmal cinematography, constant lazy jump scares, and a complete lack of purpose.
The eponymous scary gentleman is not explored much in the film, all the film really tells the audience is that he's a pale tall guy in a cloak capable of basically anything. The source material is about three friends who use an Ouija board to contact a variety of spirits, some of whom relate to the story of The Bye Bye Man. Turns out, he was an albino boy who grew vengeful after years of horrible bullying and toured the country as a serial killer. At some point in his train-based killing spree, he crafted or summoned a dog-like beast called Gloomsinger. He appears briefly and without explanation in the film. He is composed of stolen body parts, but consistently rots, and must be maintained with new disinterred bits.
At some point, The Bye Bye Man gained the telepathic abilities he's known for and began the process of hunting those who said his name out loud. The story deliberately holds several significant holes, leaving some ideas to the imagination. The film explains little to none of this, which winds up feeling slapped together. It feels less like the book's horror story with occasional gaps and more like a story someone hasn't finished writing yet. Of course, the guy who wrote it is still better known for CBS's classic island reality show.
Jonathan Penner made his Survivor debut in 2006, with the ill-advised Cook Islands season. The thirteenth season of the massively popular reality series divided its contestants into four groups based on race or ethnicity, literally segregating the show. Jonathan won seventh place his first time on the show and was seen as a duplicitous betrayer amongst the cast. He returned as a fan favorite in season 16, hurt his knee, suffered a life-threatening infection, and was removed via medevac as the sixth elimination. That fateful exit slated him for return as part of a trio of previously evacuated participants in season 25. He lost then as well, claiming the same seventh place exit he earned his first season. Jonathan stated in 2012 that he would be open to another attempt at becoming the Sole Survivor, but he hasn't been back since then.
Penner was substantially more popular on Survivor than anything he's created on his own. The Bye Bye Man is an undoubtedly awful film, but it has plenty of merit as a "so bad it's good" horror classic. Penner hasn't returned to the screen in any capacity since the film's release, and it's unlikely he'll be doing so any time soon. Penner and his wife, director Stacey Title, were set to create a King Kong television series and a dark comedy starring Seinfeld star Jason Alexander, but Title tragically passed away last January. The pair have been partners in the overwhelming majority of their work since their marriage in 1999, Title even visited Penner in his first season on Survivor. Her tragic passing, unfortunately, robs the world of the pair's next attempt and leaves their cinematic legacy largely defined by one largely despised film.
"The Bridge to Body Island" is well worth reading, especially for those fond of ghost stories. The Bye Bye Man is a bad film with an interesting story around it, that's only worth watching for a laugh.