Directed by Lee Foster, co-written by Angela Cavallin and Ryan Kobold, In Its Wake begins with Father Kurdt Waidmann (Elvis Stojko), a man of the cloth, who seems to have heavy stuff on his mind. After mass one day we see him talking to God about something clearly not your average issues. He asks God for a sign, which appears in the form of his acolyte telling him one of his parishioners has been killed outside in a road accident. Cue hideously dated dramatic intro music.

Three years later in a diner, there’s three businessmen; Mitch (Liam Seamus Murphy), Sean (Steve Kasan), and Sam (Thomas John Scott); (the usual uppity stuffed suit arseholes on a jolly and looking for illicit substances), and four friends, Manny (Kenneth Bemister), Laura (Jaqueline Godbout), Tim (Aaron Heels), and Amy (Paige Foskett), there to figure out what to do with the weekend. The two groups have a bit of interaction; bickering courtesy of Tim and Sam, defused by the Father (in a furry-hooded parka) who seems to know a rough night’s ahead, as do we; we already know he’s got some deeper purpose going down.

Next the two couples and the businessmen are on the road. Something appears in the road ahead of them, then!!! They all run out of gas. Coincidence? There’s arguments over who goes outside to check things out on the businessmen’s car. Oo, fuel lines cut. Argh. What are the chances? The other group fare just as dismally, so now they’re all stuck out in the dark and snow with, as it turns out, a screeching, as-yet-barely-glimpsed disembowelling creature. This is the beast that’s been bothering the Father.

There follows some confused moments involving some of the group of 4 in a tent who get set upon by the beast, and the Pastor and acolyte talking nonsensical mystic stuff; the acolyte as baffled as the rest of us. The best I could glean from it was the Pastor abandoned his faith after a tussle with an ancient evil, and has gone vigilante, determined to stamp out the evil once and for all.

The intro music assaults the senses, which unfortunately carries on throughout In Its Wake. This only adds to the generally confused air which dogs the film from start to end. The dark scenes (of which there are many) are overly dark; a pet hate of mine; peering into a screen that’s like a fish tank full of ink is overrated in my opinion. The music occasionally gives way to an almost comedic theme like something from Nickelodeon, then there’s an electronic instrumental of ‘Silent Night.’ I mean, what was the musical director ON? 1.15 is the first time things become even vaguely interesting, though as with the rest of the film, it’s marred by the music, in the style of the worst kind of early 80’s B-movie horror.

If this review’s synopsis seems a bit confused and disjointed, that’s because it’s catching. In Its Wake is like a jigsaw that’s been thrown into the air with the creators expecting it all to fall into one neat piece with a bit of zing to the finished article. Unfortunately, this didn’t happen for me. There’s not enough of a decent plot, nor continuity to hold the audience riveted. The music befits a film of what this hopes to be, and so I found it extraordinarily hard to follow. Not only that, but it was boring.

I hate to be a bitch, and try not to be, but I wouldn’t recommend In Its Wake to anyone. I tried watching it five times and my opinion didn’t change, though if you have endless patience you may do better.