While it is true that Dark Mountain blatantly copies far too much from The Blair Witch Project, I still enjoyed watching it. Admittedly, I'm an unabashed fan of found-footage films, but this movie did produce a disquieting sense of unease in me. Trying to find your way around in the dark, in the middle of nowhere, is just creepy -- even without stories of curses or irrational mountain men protecting their territory.

In terms of structure and presentation, Dark Mountain has its problems, but it's not a disaster of a movie by any means.

The general hook is a good one -- three young people setting out to make a documentary of their search for the Lost Dutchman Mine in the inhospitable desert landscape of Arizona's Superstition Mountains. Making the claim that the film is inspired by actual events, though, is a cheesy mistake -- sure, some people have disappeared searching for the Lost Dutchman Mine, but that's about as close to reality as this film comes.

Starting off the film with a weeping confessional moment taken right out of The Blair Witch Project is another big mistake -- one that will likely turn some viewers off immediately. The whole thing could use a better backstory, as well. Kate (Sage Howard) is doing this to launch her documentary film career, but her boyfriend Paul (Andrew Simpson) is pretty much there because he's her boyfriend, and Ross (Shelby Stehlin), the third member of the team, seems to just be sort of tagging along. It quickly becomes pretty clear that the threesome hasn't put too much thought into the project when they are surprised by some of the stories and cautions they hear from locals about stepping off the trail. They also have fairly small packs with them, given their plan to camp in this hot desert landscape for several days, and their map to the supposed location of the lost mine looks like it was drawn on a napkin.

Even if none of the legends about the area are true, it's quite an inhospitable landscape that looks like a rattlesnake paradise, if you ask me.

Off the three go, though, actually seeming to believe they might actually find the long lost mine. All they end up finding, though, is trouble -- much of which is taken right out of The Blair Witch Project. There are some genuinely creepy moments interspersed throughout, though, and that's the part of the movie I enjoyed. I think the acting was pretty good for the most part, and the obviously low-key special effects were sufficient, as well. One thing I didn't like was the fact that the periodic smartphone videos had the quality of a 1960s home movie; that struck me as an artsy-fartsy device on the part of the filmmakers.

If you don't like found-footage movies, you almost certainly won't like this one. Even if you are a fan, the derivative nature of the overall plot may well turn you off. I personally liked the movie, but I know I'm going to be in a minority on this one.