It's a case of geriatric panic in "The Home," a hapless horror movie starring Pete Davidson as a troubled man sent to work in a retirement home to avoid jail time.

While there he uncovers a bunch of grisly secrets, none of them remotely believable, in co-writer and director James DeMonaco's dour thriller that doesn't work on any conceivable level.

Davidson is Max, who has been adrift since his brother passed away years earlier. When he's picked up on vandalism charges, in exchange for jail time he's sent off to work at Green Meadows, a retirement community built more like an insane asylum, where he's explicitly told to avoid the fourth floor.

So it's only a matter of time before he's sneaking around on the fourth floor and uncovering buried secrets that mash up bits from much better movies like "Get Out" and "The Shining."

Key here are the old people gross-outs, so we get shots of nasty looking toenails, blood spurting from eyeballs, etc. At one point an octogenarian is impaled on a fence. Remember "Cocoon?" This ain't that.

But "The Home" doesn't add up to much, as Davidson isn't able to connect with the material on an emotional or spiritual level. Dramatic scenes are played for laughs, tense scenes fall flat, and the central conspiracy feels like it was cooked up by middle schooler's daydreams. Davidson is in over his head conveying any sense of suspense or danger, and the blood-soaked climax is plays like a live-action video game fantasy come to life. This "Home" needs a hell of lot of housekeeping.

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'THE HOME'

Grade: D-

MPA rating: R (for strong bloody violence and gore, language and some sexual content)

Running time: 1:37

How to watch: Now in theaters

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