With four friends, a home video camera and a creepy forest, "Baghead" seems to have the makings of another "The Blair Witch Project." Except that it's really, really bad.

The initial concept is simple enough-take a guy with a bag on his head and make it funny and a little scary at the same time. But it is perhaps this lowbrow idea that shot the film in the foot before it even started. Sure, tons of successful, beautiful movies were borne out of a single phrase. However, unlike those movies, "Baghead" doesn't take the concept anywhere worthwhile.

The way the Duplass Brothers attempted to round out their little idea was by introducing four desperate-and more than a little pathetic-twentysomething actors who decide to rent out a cabin in the woods to write and produce a movie starring themselves, since for some crazy reason, nobody wants terrible actors in their films. In the midst of sexual tension and awkward relationships, one of them sees a man in the dark sporting a paper bag. Uninteresting antics ensue.

From the first minute all the way to the credits, the audience has no reason to care about the characters. Overweight Chad (Steve Zissis) pines for the lovely Michelle (Greta Gerwig), who instead tries to get into the pants of alpha male Matt (Ross Partridge), who meanwhile is being chased by pushing-40 Catherine (Elise Muller). That's really all there is to it. They're self-absorbed, superficial nobodies who never change at any point in the story.

Part of this stems from bad writing. The dialogue, while true to life in its mind-numbing shallowness, is the tedious conversation of narcissists that, frankly, no one cares to hear.

However, part of this detachment from the story comes from the barebones production of the film. Jay and Mark Duplass decided to turn down a major studio's offer to produce "Baghead" in favor of creating it themselves. With an HD camera. In a log cabin. One need not wonder why the end product looks so homemade and ugly. With its shaky camera angles, lack of focus and abuse of close-ups, it does not belong in the realm of professional film.

But wait, there's more. The filmmakers tried to achieve spontaneous and natural performances by eschewing rehearsals and lighting set-up changes. Scenes began and ran all the way to the end. How foolish, to think that after hundreds of years of civilization developing the process of rehearsal and performance, two humble brothers could tear all that down to make something profound and innovative.

In the face of such attempts by the rest of the crew to sabotage the movie, the actors really do not have much to work with, and thus, they are probably not to blame. They are believable in their roles, which incidentally, were written for them. They aren't great, but they aren't terrible either, which is saying something for "Baghead."

Granted, the movie has its good points. The reality the directors strove for shines through in one scene where a character is caught masturbating (every man's worst nightmare!). The man with the bag on his head is genuinely scary in some parts. And Chad and Matt almost evoke sympathy in the end when a tragic accident occurs.

All in all, the Duplass Brothers tried too hard to achieve too much with too little. You don't need a lot of money and fancy equipment to make a movie, but in this case, it would only have helped. It's not like they didn't have a choice.

Tags: FILM PREMIERE