It wouldn't be completely fair to say that "The Acid House" is a "Trainspotting" wannabe — after all, "Acid House" screenwriter Irvine Welsh also wrote the books on which both films are based.

But "The Acid House," a particularly unfunny dark comedy, is the next worst thing to a rip-off, since it so blatantly copies "Trainspotting's" uniquely kinetic visual style and even features two of the same cast members among its supporting players — Ewen Bremner ("Spud") and Kevin McKidd ("Tommy").

"The Acid House" is also a film created under dubious circumstances. Believing that director Danny Boyle and screenwriter John Hodge's film version of "Trainspotting" distorted his book, Scottish author Welsh decided he would adapt his work this time — with help from commercial and television director Paul McGuigan.

The results here suggest they shouldn't have even tried, as the film is lacking in any warmth, and its characters are so smarmy and unlikable (to a much greater degree than those featured in Boyle's movie) that it's hard to care about what happens to any of them.

"The Acid House" is broken into a trio of stories. The first follows Boab (Steven McCole), a twentysomething having the worst day of his life. First, he's kicked off his soccer team. Then his parents give him two weeks to get out of the house. His girlfriend dumps him. And then he's the victim of police brutality.

These foibles, however, pale in comparison to Boab's apparent face-to-face meeting with his maker (Maurice Roeves), who suggests that his existence was part of a cosmic joke.

Next up are Johnny (McKidd) and Catriona (Arlene Cockburn), newlyweds whose relationship deteriorates quickly with the arrival of a new neighbor, Larry (Martin Clunes), who proceeds to seduce her and terrorize him.

The third (and, frankly, worst) story concerns Coco (Bremner), a drug user who finds his personality has been transferred into the body of a newborn (a particularly bad puppet that looks like a reject from the "Child's Play" movies) after a particularly bad drug trip.

It takes a warped mind to appreciate Welsh's writings when they're in print. But on the big screen, they're even more impenetrable, though the cast (particularly McKidd and McCole) try in vain to make the material interesting.

In fact, the film's most clever move — at least for its U.S. debut — was adding subtitles, since much of the dialogue is spoken in accents so thick it sounds like a foreign language.

"The Acid House" is not rated but would probably receive an R for excessive profanity; several graphic simulated-sex scenes; constant use of crude sexual slang terms, as well as some other questionable humor; simulated drug use (marijuana, amphetamines and other hallucinogenics); a pair of extremely violent beatings; and female and male nudity.