Found footage movies are a tricky thing to pull off. If you really commit (like The Blair Witch Project or Paranormal Activity), then your entire film must look like it was recorded by the characters. There must be a logical reason for the characters to continue recording even as their lives are turned upside down and any normal person would have put the camera down and run about 45 minutes ago. The dialogue must sound natural no matter the crazy actions, and the emotional arcs of the characters have to feel genuine and unforced.

Unfortunately, The Levenger Tapes (written and directed by Mark Edwin Robinson) does not quite succeed on any of these criteria, and, although it tries gamely to produce nail-biting suspense, ultimately just made me shrug.

Amanda, Kim, and Chase (Johanna Brady, Lili Mirojnick, and Morgan Krantz, respectfully) are young friends, driving away to spend a weekend at Chase’s family cabin in the woods. Chase is recording the whole weekend for…some reason, and is trying way too hard to have some sexytime with Amanda. On the way there, however, Chase steals a bottle of liquor from the local general store (he didn’t have his fake I.D. with him) and when the kids drive away they run into a pickup truck. Sitting in the passenger side is a little girl.

And then we cut to a police station, where Detective Stackman (familiar face Chris Mulkey, Boardwalk Empire) and two others are watching the same tape we’re watching. They freeze the tape at that spot, and open a folder. There is a photo of the same girl from the pickup, apparently gone missing weeks ago.

And so it goes. Stuff happens (or doesn’t…) on the tape, then we see the detectives’ response and comments about it.  I’m sure it was done to provide context and a calm counterpoint to the action on the tape (or maybe just to pad out the running time), but it just disrupts what little flow they’ve been able to establish so far.

So the kids end up at the cabin, where Chase proves himself to be an insufferable horndog (even videotaping Amanda while she dresses, ick). They see a campfire off in the distance and they think it might be those rednecks from the liquor store, out for revenge. They go to investigate and, even though this cabin belongs to Chase’s family, they get lost in the woods and Chase has no idea where they are or in what direction they should go.

“I’m starting to think we’re really stupid for being out here.” Yep.

Chase goes off into the bushes to pee and disappears. The girls panic when they see eyes reflecting in the dark, blinking at them. They hear a female voice screaming, and even though it kind of sounds fake, they keep yelling into the darkness, “Tell us. Tell us what’s wrong.”  They shine their flashlights around (but mostly up into the leaves) and then Kim gets attacked and dragged off. Amanda is scared, has no idea what’s going on.

But that tension’s short-lived because very soon after that they all find each other safe and sound. Chase claims to have fought back against the thing that attacked him and locked it away in a convenient nearby stable. Sure, Chase. Whatever.

The Levenger Tapes has a good premise, but the execution just meanders around going nowhere, and, when we finally find out who is doing what to whom and why, I really didn’t care about any of these characters, neither the perpetrators nor the victims. There are some moments that could have been terrifying (out in the woods, nothing but a flashlight, distant screaming) but the trio of actors playing the leads just aren’t up to the task. They’re not convincing, whether they’re running in a panic through the woods or just sipping booze in the cabin.

The Levenger Tapes made me wish I could rewind the previous 92 minutes and go do something else.

THE LEVENGER TAPES arrives on DVD (plus Digital) and On Demand July 5 from Lionsgate Home Entertainment.