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Review:  ‘Digging Up the Marrow’ a monster of a found-footage teaser

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Prolific genre filmmaker Adam Green tries his hand at the mockumentary with “Digging Up the Marrow,” but the results are decidedly more mind-numbing than bone-chilling.

Green established a rabid fanboy base with output such as the “Hatchet” trilogy of horror films. Taking inspiration from the grotesque illustrations of graphic artist Alex Pardee, here Green heads out to Chatsworth to interview the reclusive William Dekker (Ray Wise), a retired detective who ostensibly has proof that monsters exist.

What follows is one drawn-out, extensively improvised tease: Either we watch Green and his production crew wait patiently in the dark for one of Dekker’s promised sightings, or we see Green and his crew sitting around a monitor back at his production company, watching footage and debating Dekker’s credibility.

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Green ups his street cred by including cameos from the likes of genre kingpins Lloyd Kaufman, Tony Todd and Tom Holland, but perhaps if “Digging Up the Marrow” had cast a less familiar face than Wise’s, it wouldn’t have felt like such an obvious put-on.

The film ultimately delivers a couple of decent jolts, but by that time, most viewers likely will have been bored to death rather than scared to death.

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“Digging Up the Marrow.”

MPAA rating: None.

Running time: 1 hour, 28 minutes.

Playing: Laemmle NoHo 7, North Hollywood. Also on VOD.

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