"The Darkness" may be an exceptionally generic title for a horror movie, but don’t let that fool you: It’s actually an exceptionally generic horror movie as well.

According to director and co-writer Greg Mclean – who horror aficionados probably recognize as the guy behind 2005’s Australian cult favorite "Wolf Creek" – the story behind the film comes from a true story passed along to him first-hand. Judging by the results, however, maybe someone was just recalling the plot of "Poltergeist" to him. Or "The Conjuring." Or "Insidious." Or an infinite number of past haunted house tales brought to the big screen with infinitely more interesting things to do and ways to scare.

While out on vacation in the Grand Canyon, the Taylor clan’s youngest (David Mazouz, baby Bruce Wayne from FOX’s "Gotham") stumbles upon some ominous ancient engraved rocks and decides to bring them back home with him. And wouldn’t you know it, he brings home a lot more than expected. Stop me if these sound familiar: Dogs start barking continuously, dark frightening shapes quickly shuffle in front of the camera, and our little canyon explorer begins communicating with his new imaginary friend – who may or may not be some Native American doomsday spirits. As an example of its strong, airtight script, "The Darkness" doesn’t actually get around to explaining it, but considering what follows, it’s probably safe to assume it was the former.

In case ancient evil warriors using the house as an Airbnb wasn’t enough, the Taylors have a mountain of much less supernatural issues haunting its halls. Mom Bronny (Radha Mitchell, "Silent Hill") is a stressed-out recovering alcoholic, caused in part probably by dad Peter (Kevin Bacon) and his previous affair, while their standard issue petulant horror movie teenage daughter Stephanie (Lucy Fry, "Vampire Academy") is secretly battling bulimia – and collecting her purgings? Hey, at least it’s something different to be found in this film – baffling and nonsensical, but different.

Anyways, like in many haunted house tales told before, if only there was some supernatural threat to bring this cracked nuclear family back together. Oh hai, four Anasazi horsemen of the apocalypse; nice of you to drop by!

As trite as it is, the concept of a family battling demons both supernatural and interpersonal – and unsure if one is to blame for the other or the other way around – is still intriguing. Handled well and with some spooky panache, there’s still enough meat on those bones to tell a creepy psychological horror flick. Unfortunately, the script – from Mclean and fellow screenwriters Shayne Armstrong and Shane Krause – can’t gel the two together, making "The Darkness" feel like an overcooked family melodrama stuck taking screen time from an undercooked horror movie.

In the case of the former, there’s not enough time used to truly develop its family drama subplots to make them worth much other than inconsistent speed bumps to the horror parts. For instance, after Stephanie’s bulimia is discovered around the 30-minute mark, it’s never discussed again, turning what seems to be a critical subplot into just a random odd detail attached to an otherwise generic cranky teen character. Peter’s adultery and Bronny’s alcoholism (which, by the way, what kind of name is Bronny? Short for LeBron? Beronica?) end up feeling equally like clichés or false starts. Either way, it’s not particularly compelling.

Then there’s the son’s autism, which the script somewhat awkwardly talks around to the point of confusion – there’s lots of talk about seeing things and fearing what others don’t without actually explaining much – and then very awkwardly exploits as creepy supernatural behavior. To add to the squeamishness, the rushed conclusion even makes it seem like his autism gets cured.

Unfortunately, things don’t fare much better on the horror movie side of "The Darkness." Simply put, it’s just not scary, relying on easy, predictable jump scares trying to make a lot out of a little with clunky editing and horror-standard loud banging and shrill crashing on the soundtrack. Take, for instance, a scare at a fridge – and if you’ve seen any horror movie quite possibly ever, you know exactly what kind of scene I’m talking about. Yet even with being wildly predictable, the jump arrives with such a clutter of edits and loud booms that the viewer’s not even quite sure what they were supposed to be scared of. Maybe there was a cat in the microwave? Which, yeah, creepy – but maybe it was also just some leftover pot roast.

The rest of the frights rely on the same cheap jumpy tactics and mundane creepiness. Ah, a snake! Ah, dirty handprints! Ah, a burned wall! Unless you’re a new homeowner or OCD about cleanliness, there’s little reason to freak out here. Forget the lofty likes of "Poltergeist"; the best comparison for "The Darkness" is the slightly worse 2012 neatnik nightmare generator "The Apparition" – and when an instantly forgotten horror flick starring a B-list "Twilight" alum is what comes to mind, that’s rarely a good sign.

Luckily, "The Darkness" isn’t complete devoid of some chills – the design of the four Anasazi spirits is worth an eerie shiver at least – and for such a small, standard-issue horror flick, the cast is more than overqualified. Bacon and especially Mitchell do their best with a thin, typical screenplay, and even familiar TV faces like Paul Reiser, Ming Na Wen and a very brief Jennifer Morrison fill out the supporting cast. Fry is the only one acting down to the movie’s level – her reaction to her bulimia being discovered is unfortunately worth a solid unintentional laugh – but in fairness, she doesn’t get much help from the stiff, inconsistent script.

Even Mclean is overqualified for a movie like this. In fact, it was a surprise to see Mclean have such a vested interest in the story, as "The Darkness" plays much more like a quick workman job rather than something he had a real passion to make. It’s all so generically made and told – even well before all of the cliché exposition Googling helps lead the family to the cliché Latina spiritual experts, who show up to perform the cliché exorcism stuff featuring a cliché dimensional portal and cliché boomings and clatterings. You’ve see this before, many times in many ways – and mostly better.

Even its original title, "6 Miranda Drive" sounds like a previous 2016 thriller release, "10 Cloverfield Lane," so maybe "The Darkness" was forever doomed to feel unoriginal – and to be quickly forgotten. Considering the uninspired results, I doubt Mclean and company will mind.