Filmmakers want to get their foot in the door to a career, and actors? They’ve got to book work to eat, right?

That explains a lot of dismally dull and just “off” B, C and D-grade thrillers, especially “The Lurking Fear.”

Filmmakers Darren Dalton and Robert Gillings thought another monstrous tale set in a long-abandoned asylum was exactly what the world needed (I think I’ve seen two this week, maybe three). And they sold their finished film to the streamer Tubi, so good on them.

Granted, they had to shovel more porta-john droppings on the careers of veteran character actors Robert Davi and Michael Madsen to achieve this. But you what you’ve gotta.

The film is apparently inspired by an H.P. Lovecraft short story. But the resemblence is thin. It’s a picture whose narrative is so jumbled you wonder what they whacked out to get it down to 81 lean, semi-nonsensical minutes.

When Davi’s character, a mysterious “expert” in the long-abandoned Martense Mental Institute, mutters “I don’t know what’s going on here,” we can wonder A) if his character is lying and B) if Davi is actually delivering a line from the script.

The disheveled movie mess concerns what Crystal (Elisabetta Fantone) finds when she frantically searches for her missing-for-a-day fiance (Jonathan Camp), the host of an unpleasant places to visit reality TV program called “Inside History.”

Mike and his crew were led into the tunnels beneath this large mental hospital ruin underneath an interstate fly-over by Andrew Seville (Davi). We saw them start the shoot, there.

Whatever happened in Martense, way back when — suggestions of weird science, pedophilia and sadistic treatment of patients — Mike’s TV chat-grammar “You can’t begin to imagine” doesn’t do it justice.

Madsen plays another dyed, unkempt, gone-to-seed cop in yet another no-budget horror tale, using the same wardrobe he wore in “The Wraith Within.” Maybe even the same sunglasses. The photo I posted is from that film, because there’s not much difference between the characters or the quality of the movies.

Davi vamps around declaring “It’s time to pay the piper. Somebody has to pay the piper” before launching into a little Anthony Quinn in “Lawrence of Arabia.”

“I am a RIVER to my people!”

I hope he had fun. I hope the check cleared.

But “The Lurking Fear” isn’t particularly fearful, and often makes little to no sense at all. The “history” is all over the place, with dates as early as 1801, as late as the turn of the 20th century and flashbacks showing a 1920s car.

The less experienced actors have trouble with line-readings, the filmmakers jump around to try and accomodate their “big names” by introducing Madsen in a scene that has little to do with the rest of the story.

There are many cinematic sins on view here. Worst of all, it’s not bad enough to merit inventing a drinking game for watching it.

Still, at the end of the day, they got “Lurking” thing on Tubi. Boy, I hope those writers and actors strikes end soon.

Rating: unrated, graphic, gory violence, profanity

Cast: Elisabetta Fantone, Robert Davi, Jonathan Camp, Laticia Rolle and Michael Madsen.

Credits: Scripted and directed by Darren Dalton and Robert Gillings. A Tubi original.

Running time: 1:22