Ever since The Blair Witch Project came out in 1999 filmmakers have tried recreating the phenomenon of blurring the lines between reality and fiction. The film that came closest to it, and arguably surpassing it was the original Paranormal Activity, but by the time it came out in 2007 most people had caught on to the gimmick and knew it wasn’t real. The latest attempt, hitting theatres this weekend, is a Canadian made film called Hunting Matthew Nichols, and while it does have moments that are entertaining, it is mostly a snoozefest better skipped than watched.

Two decades ago Tara Nichols’ (Miranda MacDougall) brother goes into the woods on Vancouver Island with a friend and mysteriously vanishes. Now today, together with a documentary crew, Tara decides to delve into the case and see if she can solve the mystery law enforcement can’t. When she unearths new evidence the police tried to hide, Tara comes to the conclusion that her brother may still be alive. In order to find out however she will need to retrace his steps and go into the woods where he was last seen. By doing so she risks not only her life, but the lives of the filmmakers accompanying her.

The Blair Witch Project and Paranormal Activity worked in part because most people believed the actors weren’t really actors. They looked like normal people dealing with extraordinary things. Hunting Matthew Nichols on the other hand doesn’t do that. The filmmakers want you to believe you are watching a documentary, but everyone feels like they are reading lines instead of being natural. It’s the realism that is the key, and this film never seems to understand that.

The other issue is that the film’s pacing is really off. For the first hour you follow the characters from interview to interview, getting little bits of information, but none of it is very interesting. Yes, some of the information helps move the plot forward, but most of it could have been told all at once instead of in bits and pieces. Understandably the film is supposed to feel like a documentary, but it’s too forced. Anyone who has ever watched a single documentary in their life will see that right away. What’s more, by the time you get to the interesting, and somewhat scary scenes that take place in the last thirty minutes, most viewers will all ready be tuned out.

Over all the film does have potential, but it feels like ideas were just stapled in, instead of planning everything out from the start. It’s like they started making the film with one idea, and added things in as they went along. It’s almost like everything was improvised, while using the yes and technique to move the story along. The worst thing is there are some things you find yourself really wanting to see before the movie ends, but someone decided never to show them. That leaves you feeling disappointed in not only the film, but in yourself for sitting through it all waiting for something that never comes.