Yael Grobglas in JeruZalem (Epic Pictures)

The found-footage horror film is the ugly stepchild in a family of ugly stepchildren. If slasher films do not get respect, found-footage movies, save for one or two, tend to elicit groans and rolling eyes. They are super cheap to make, the cinematography and sound are generally awful, and the acting worse because, for the most part, they are the first stop for amateur horror filmmakers—see “cheap” above.

When done well, though, there can be rewards: lots of judicious withholding of information, a first-person perspective that puts you in the middle of the action (much better than the creepy, sexist voyeurism of the killer’s perspective in many slasher films), and, if the filmmakers are particularly ambitious, a comment on our use of technology and the pervasiveness of the surveillance state. Mostly, though, they pretty much suck. They look cheap with shoddy justifications as to why anyone is even filming anything when there’s a killer/zombie/mutant/whatever chasing them.

Luckily, in JeruZalem, writer/directors Doran and Yoav Paz have some creative ideas, such as using the Old City in Jerusalem as a main location and having the entire film told from the point of view of someone wearing Google Glass. It may seem annoying and gimmicky, but the filmmakers make it work. (Occasionally, the glasses are taken off and worn by someone else so we can get a look at the main character.) And the directors do themselves a service by simply hiring good actors and not treating the twentysomethings out to party as amoral, slutty, and deserving of their fate. They are simply young and enjoying themselves. Of course, to their detriment, they just happen to be at ground zero for the End of Times.

The directors’ ability to create realistic characters and elicit a couple of good scares is actually what makes JeruZalem so frustrating. Turns out the demons being coughed out of the mouth of hell are little more than zombies with wings. Promising plot strands peter out shortly after they are introduced. A hunky archaeologist seems to know more than he is letting on until it is clear that he doesn’t, and there are no interesting debates between Muslims and Jews and the agnostic characters about what’s happening. The argument narrows down to just, “Hey, winged zombies, gotta go,” which is, in hindsight, somewhat understandable.

The potential is there for a really good, smart horror film, but we end up with a typical running-from-peril B movie. At one point, a character states, “It’s just like a video game,” and even with the evident talent involved, in the long run, that’s pretty much how it feels.