We meet his beleaguered father Sebastián after the creatures have arrived and encouraged suicide upon those who dare to look. As one might have guessed, the action has moved from California to Barcelona, replacing Bullock with The Invisible Guest’s Mario Casas.

It again wields ambition beyond its means and is similarly lacking in the thrills it seems to think it’s providing but it’s mostly rather watchable schlock, finding a surprisingly nifty way into the story. There’s a similar muddle in the mid-summer spin-off Bird Box: Barcelona, an attempt to expand the world of the first and appeal to the streamer’s considerable Spanish-speaking audience.

For all of its viral bluster, Bird Box was a sorry, sloppy spin on A Quiet Place with a far less effective sense-based danger and never quite working as a horror, a fantasy, a family drama or a survival thriller, parroting the work of others without bringing any sense of distinctive personality of its own. A barely visible cultural imprint and an uninterested leading lady be damned with the streamer hoping that almost five years later, enough people are able to remember a universe that most critics were happy to repress.

Tom bird reviews