The folks over at Relativity Media has had a rough go of it recently. After declaring bankruptcy last summer and emerging from it back in March, they have spent the past year trying to claw themselves out of their financial woes. The past year has seen many of their films get scheduled only to get pushed back by several months (looking at you, Before I Wake). One of those films is D.J. Caruso’s (Disturbia) The Disappointments Room. Filmed in 2014, The Disappointments Room was abruptly scheduled for a September 9th release date three weeks ago after being bumped from its original release date of March. Finally seeing the light of day in a small-scale nationwide release (it’s playing on just over 1,500 screens), The Disappointments Room fails to inject horror into a story that would have worked much better had it been written solely as a straightforward psychological drama.

Following the death of their infant daughter, Dana (Kate Beckinsale) and David (Mel Raido) move to an old house in the country with their 5-year-old son Lucas (Duncan Joiner). Hoping to get a fresh start and rid Dana of her depression and guilt, the family attempts to settle into their new home outside of the city. Dana comes across a locked door in the attic that she learns is a disappointments room. While dealing with her own grief and the renovations of her new home, she tries to unravel the mystery behind this secret room.

The script is credited to Caruso and actor/writer Wentworth Miller (who also penned 2013’s exceptional Stoker), and it’s a bit shocking to learn that they are behind it because their résumés suggest that they’re capable of better. There are a multitude of issues with the script, but the biggest one is that it paints Beckinsale’s character as a shrew for the first two acts of the film. She is clearly dealing with some crippling mental issues and her husband, who is one of the most worthless characters ever put on screen, just shrugs it off for most of the film, constantly giving her “you’re being crazy” facial expressions.

A lot of jokes will be made over the film’s title, but to say The Disappointments Room is disappointing would imply that there were high expectations in the first place. A studio doesn’t just schedule a theatrical release for a film three weeks prior to said release because they think it’s good. Not even if that studio is just coming out of bankruptcy. It seems like Relativity saw the success of Lights Out, a horror film that dealt with similar themes, and tried to cash in on its success.

The Disappointments Room is being marketed as a horror film and that is a huge mistake. Sure, it will get butts in seats during the opening weekend (my theater was surprisingly half-full), but The Disappointments Room fails remarkably as a horror film. It is littered with cheap scares. There is even a medicine cabinet mirror scare in the film. Why do directors still think it is a good idea to use those? Moments of graphic violence are also edited to death so that you can’t tell what is going on during them. The film is at its worst when it is trying to be scary because never once is the film actually scary. The psychological parts are where the film is at its best. Delving into Dana’s mind is much more fascinating than some cheap jump scares.

Not helping matters is that the film is rather dull for the majority of its runtime. It’s mostly just Beckinsale walking around the house staring at things. The film attempts to build suspense around the mystery of the titular room and the circumstances surrounding the death of David and Dana’ daughter, but none of it works particularly well. Miller and Caruso try to link the history of the disappointments room to Beckinsale’s grief, but it just doesn’t mesh. It starts heading somewhere interesting for a while, but fails to stick the landing. The final act leaves so many hanging threads (one character’s fate is left up in the air entirely) that is seems like it was chopped up in the editing room during post-production.

The Disappointments Room is not a complete loss. Beckinsale gives a heartbreaking performance as Dana. The full story behind her daughter’s death, while predictable, is one of the more interesting aspects of the film. Beckinsale sells Dana’s mental trauma well and earns the audience’s empathy, despite the film sometimes painting her in a negative light. It would have behooved the film if it had more time been spent reflecting on that after the film reveals it. Unfortunately it is treated as a twist, which cheapens the plot development.

Bolstered by Beckinsale’s performance and some rather affecting insights into depression and guilt, the film at least merits a rental. It’s just a shame it had to attempt to inject so much horror into the proceedings, but a horror film called The Disappointments Room is an easier sell than a drama called Kate Beckinsale is Sad for 90 Minutes.