Night Shift, Stephen King’s first collection of horror stories, has spawned numerous adaptations since its 1978 publication. Perhaps its most notable tale is “Children of the Corn,” a spooky account of murderous kids that yielded a cheesy-but-fun 1984 film, several sequels, and multiple remakes—including one released this March. Other stories, such as “Jerusalem’s Lot,” “The Mangler,” and “Quitters, Inc.,” have also been adapted in one form or another; “Trucks,” a tale of vehicles run amok, even provided the basis for King’s only film-directing credit: 1986’s Maximum Overdrive. The latest—but, sadly, not greatest—Night Shift story adaptation to hit screens is The Boogeyman, premiering in theaters on June 2.

King’s brief tale first appeared in Cavalier, a Playboy-esque men’s magazine, in 1973, and it’s fine, but it’s not among his best works. It tells the tale of a therapy session in which anxious patient Lester Billings—a truly terrible person who reveals himself to be misogynistic, racist, and homophobic—tells psychiatrist Dr. Harper that his three young children were all killed by a closet-dwelling creature that his kids called “the boogeyman.” He didn’t witness the first two murders, he says, but he willingly sacrificed his third child to the monster, which he describes as “something with awful slumped shoulders and a scarecrow head.” Shortly after Billings’ confession, Dr. Harper removes his mask—revealing that he is, in fact, the horrific boogeyman.

There’s not much to the story, really, so screenwriters Scott Beck and Bryan Woods (A Quiet Place), along with Mark Heyman (Black Swan), took a few basic elements—the spooky, murderous creature that dwells in dark places, and a few character names—and constructed an all-new story around it. In the movie, teenage Sadie Harper (Yellowjackets’ Sophie Thatcher) is grieving the recent accidental death of her mother, as is her younger sister, Sawyer (Obi-Wan Kenobi’s Vivien Lyra Blair). Their psychiatrist father, Dr. Will Harper (Sharp Objects’ Chris Messina), is also struggling with grief, but he’s gone back to work, seeing patients at his home office. One day, a stranger named Lester Billings (Dune’s David Dastmalchian) shows up and begs Dr. Harper for a session; the doctor reluctantly agrees, and Billings—who’s merely haunted, not loathsome like his print counterpart—tells him that all of his children were killed by a strange beast. He even provides Dr. Harper with a drawing of the creature. Shortly after the unnerved doctor excuses himself to call the police, Billings dies horribly—apparently a victim of suicide by hanging. After that, other disturbing incidents make clear that something is stalking the Harper family—something that hides in closets and other places far away from the light. Soon, Sadie takes it upon herself to investigate and fight back against the supernatural threat.

It’s a fairly thin premise for a horror movie, and genre fans will find much in it that’s familiar. Did we really need yet another movie that uses a monster as a metaphor for grief? It’s a clichéd horror trope, driving such films as The Babadook, Hereditary, and even other King adaptations, such as Pet Sematary. The movie also leans far too hard on jump-scares—a lazy device that gets old fast—and the unbelievable willingness of its characters to constantly venture into dark rooms. That said, director Rob Savage—who also helmed the excellent 2020 Zoom-centric horror flick Host—has a gift for suspense, patiently using darkness and stillness to his advantage and never giving viewers a good look at the beast until the very end. Thatcher, Blair, and Messina all give tense and convincing performances, as well. In the end, though, it’s pretty standard fare; it’s serviceable, sure, but not particularly memorable—much like the tale that inspired it.

David Rapp is the senior Indie editor.