The found footage format has proven to be a great way for filmmakers with limited budgets to punch above their weight and create something truly frightening and successful. From the massively profitable, micro-budgeted titles like The Blair Witch Project and Paranormal Activity, to smaller titles with cult followings like Grave Encounters and Gonjiam: Haunted Asylum, the subgenre is loaded with films that use their limited means to make bold creative choices and craft masterful exercises in terror. But for the conceit to truly work, the audience needs to at least temporarily believe in the movie’s reality, which means everything on screen needs to be crafted so convincingly as to make buying in effortless for the viewer. Alas, it is on this front that the New Jersey-set Creature of the Pines truly fails, letting down an otherwise promising story.

Campers and hikers have reportedly been vanishing from the forests of the Pine Barrens for decades, but recently the disappearances have received increased media attention after Raymond Bell (Greg Poppa), one member of a lost trio, is found disoriented on a state road. Naturally, he is suspect number one in whatever may have happened to his friends, but after being interrogated he is released due to a lack of evidence. The 21st century being the way it is, the friends felt compelled to film their trip, and when their footage is found it serves only to further exonerate Ray, though the eerie events it reveals offer up more unsettling questions.

Presented to us in the style of a true crime documentary, it all builds to the trio assembling that movie deciding to head out to the site and see things for themselves. This being a horror movie it should come as no surprise that the answers they get prove to be more than they bargained for.

The found footage segments, which also include sequences from another missing person’s recovered camera, actually prove pretty competent at generating fear and suspense, though these moments are sadly short, instead being padded out with the banter and bickering that is typical of the genre. At least these characters all seem natural enough to be semi-believable, even despite the somewhat cringe dialogue they’re occasionally forced to utter.

It’s in the true crime moments that the movie really errs, with nearly every moment within them feeling off in a way that pulls the viewer out of the experience. Brandon Keeton does alright as the detective and Paul Hood has just enough gravitas to sell his role as the historian, but the other interview subjects range from unconvincing to campy.

When it comes to the seemingly minor details the movie does even worse. Hood’s historian is speaking from a library in which nearly every book seems to have been inexplicably covered in matching plaid wrapping papers. The fake news broadcasts they manufactured here have implausible network names and the actors in them can’t even approach the actual cadence an anchor would speak in. When they flash the front page of a newspaper on the screen, it is missing a name. These may sound like trivial matters, but it’s these pieces that make everything seem real, and on that front they have utterly failed.

There are some good ideas here. The decision to highlight a creature other than the obvious Jersey Devil seems baffling at first, but it’s used well and does create some genuinely creepy scenes. “Don’t sweat the small stuff” is generally a decent bit of advice, but for movies like this that is exactly what matters. If some more time had been spent making sure to get that right, this could have been something special. As it is though, it will only leave you pining for something better. ★½

Not Rated. Contains violence, bloody images, strong language, and sexual references.