Horror flick with plot that's even dumber than it sounds

SINISTER 2, the latest in a long string of supernatural horror movies belonging to the same low-budget stable as the Paranormal Activity and Insidious franchises, fails to register much of an impression on the goose-bump scale.

One possible reason for this is that the storyline - involving a bogeyman who possesses young children to murder their own families and make home movies while they're at it - is even dumber than it sounds.

Formulaic horror movies tend to tread a well-beaten path, borrowing liberally from their predecessors in an effort to recreate that epic scare. In trying to revisit the commercial success of the original Sinister (2012), director Ciaran Foy and writers Scott Derrickson and C Robert Cargill have included the usual suspects: a remote house in the country, complete with basement fit for a murder; ghoulish apparitions that show up unannounced at inopportune moments, usually accompanied by creepy music; and a boy who can not only "see" dead children but also hold meaningful discussions with them.