Overview: In pursuit of a serial killer, an FBI agent uncovers a series of occult clues that she must solve to end his terrifying killing spree.

Verdict: In M. Night Shyamalan’s Trap, an officer tells his battalion about one of the victims of the serial killer known as the Butcher. The wholesome father, dismembered and strewn about, is exactly the type of person who deserves to win awards for being a good citizen. Who wants to watch a movie about that guy?

Cooper (Josh Hartnett), the living embodiment of a dad joke, is a bit too enthusiastic about being dragged to a Lady Raven concert. (Shyamalan cast his daughter Saleka as the singer, in an egregious albeit loving act of nepotism).

After discovering that the show is an elaborate trap to catch the Butcher, Cooper ditches his daughter and begins a waltz through the bowels of the stadium. He sticks out like a six-foot, 46-year-old heartthrob in a sea of teen fangirls. Hartnett is the star, seesawing from charming to twitchy and sinister.

Shyamalan said in an interview that he filmed Hartnett close-up and directly addressing the camera to make him appear “abnormally connected” to the other characters. The film wears its campiness like a badge of honor.

Like the “really cool” trapdoor Cooper suggests he and his daughter go down, Shyamalan never explores deeper ideas like fatherhood, work-life balance, or suburban domesticity. For some, puzzling out the “big twist” will be enough to sustain interest in the enjoyable, if nonsensical, third act.