The psychological thriller “ The Man in My Basement ” adapts Walter Mosley’s 2004 novel of the same name, but yields little by way of intriguing psychology or thrills. Set in the quaint Long Island village of Sag Harbor — a historically African American community — it follows a young Black slacker whose inherited home becomes the venue for a middle-aged white man’s strange experiment, while gesturing at themes of guilt, trauma and racial animus that go nowhere anytime quick.

Mosley co-writes the screenplay alongside debuting director Nadia Latif , who shows immense promise early on, capturing the directionless young Charles Blakey (Corey Hawkins) as he antagonizes one of his pals for no good reason. There’s a simmering rage and self-loathing to Blakey, which Latif matches in the form

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