If you’re going to do diet M. Night Shyamalan, at least copy “The Sixth Sense” and not “Lady in the Water…”

“The Watchers” is the directorial debut of Ishana Night Shyamalan, the daughter of director M. Night. In the film, a young woman (Dakota Fanning) gets lost in the woods and stumbles across a mysterious building with a group of strangers inside (Georgina Campbell, Olwen Fouéré, and Oliver Finnegan), claiming to be hiding from monsters.

It’s become the trend in Hollywood in recent years to have horror films include social commentary or allegories for grief and trauma, and “The Watchers” is not much different. There are nuggets of creepiness and an intriguing folklore, but the film bites off more than it can chew, resulting in an uneven and unsatisfying product.

A problem many people have with M. Night Shyamalan’s films is the writing, and his daughter’s debut script doesn’t fall far from the tree. Characters are not very fleshed out (they’re given a single notable trait and we move on), and the dialogue is often so clunky or unnatural that it’s awkward. Characters also make some incredibly dumb decisions, but you do have to give a little bit of leash with things like that when watching horror films (no one is as dumb as the couple in “The Strangers: Chapter One”).

The creature design is ok, but it’s pretty familiar. Coming off like a Slenderman/“Quiet Place” alien hybrid, the “watchers” have an interesting-enough backstory and abilities, but Shyamalan doesn’t quite know how to tie it together or use them to their potential.

There are a few moments of creepy visuals (though, again, nothing not inspired from better movies), but far too often “Watchers” is dumb or boring, though to its credit it manages to move fast-enough for a not-that-good movie.

“The Watchers” is a bland, generic summer scary movie, and just because you slap M. Night’s name on the poster (he produced it) doesn’t instantly make it watchable. I’m interested to see what Ishana Night Shyamalan does next because there are nuggets of skill here, but far too often the film plays like a cover band of better horror films, and there’s no reason you can’t simply watch one of those instead.

Critics Rating: 4/10