A crisp and efficient reminder of King’s line “Sometimes, dead is better,” and that occasionally, sometimes prequels are too.

Not even the jump scares work, in other words, leaving little but sudden jolts of ghoulish carnage to keep the audience awake.

A prequel wanted by few and needed by none.

While there are some genuinely shocking sequences and gripping performances, the film shows that sometimes, dead is better as it fails to resurrect the classic story.