Based on Victor LaValle’s best-selling novel of the same name by, The Changeling is a glum, tangled horror story being promoted as a dark “fairy tale for grown-ups,” adapted as an eight-episode Apple TV+ series by creator and showrunner Kelly Marcel (Saving Mr. Banks, Fifty Shades of Gray) and directed by Melina Matsoukas (Queen & Slim). Drawing on Scandinavian folklore and in-depth historical knowledge of New York City — not to mention a good cast and big production values — it seems like it ought to be better than it is.

The Changeling follows a loving couple — rare-books dealer Apollo and librarian Emma (LaKeith Stanfield and Clark Backo) — parted by the terror surrounding the birth and traumatizing infancy of their first child, Brian. Emma is either suffering from a truly appalling case of postpartum depression, increasingly convinced that “this is not a baby,” or her encounter with a “wise one” in Brazil embroiling her and her child in a demonic spell. Of course, Apollo has his own troubled history involving his Ugandan mother (Adina Porter) struggling to overcome the trauma of her own past and a father (Jared Abrahamson) who mysteriously disappeared. It seems that all throughout his alienating childhood, Apollo was haunted by a recurring nightmare of his father’s monstrous return — a dream that might not have been a dream after all.

Ultimately, Emma disappears, and Apollo goes in search of her in a surreal odyssey through New York City.