I went into Cold Blows the Wind the way I wish I could see every movie–almost completely blind. The plot synopsis and the trailer teased some vague, seemingly supernatural threats, but they didn’t reveal anything specific. I simply had no idea what I’d be in for with this film, and I found that uncertainty super intriguing. I just had to know what was really going on, so I took the leap of faith and requested a screener as soon as I could.

Cold Blows the Wind was written and directed by Eric Williford, and it stars Victoria Vertuga, Danell Leyva, Jamie Bernadette, and Torrey Lawrence. In the film, Tasha and Dean are a married couple experiencing the worst night of their lives. First, they drive drunk and hit a jogger. Then, when they take the body to a remote house to bury it, they find that the guy is actually still alive, and that puts them between a rock and a hard place.

They want to help the poor man, but they’re afraid he’ll tell the police what they did. That fear compels them to kill him instead, and after they bury his corpse, a mysterious stranger named Briar comes knocking on their door. She saw what Tasha and Dean did, and she offers to stay quiet about it if they protect her from a man who’s supposedly out to get her. From there, the night just gets worse and worse, and it pushes Tasha and Dean’s relationship to the absolute limit.

From that brief plot synopsis, you can probably see why I was so intrigued by Cold Blows the Wind. It’s the kind of horror mystery I just can’t resist, but unfortunately, the execution here doesn’t live up to that awesome premise.

Let’s start with the performances. They’re hit or miss at best, so it’s just about impossible to buy into these characters and their story. For example, when Briar knocks on Tasha and Dean’s door and pleads for help, she tries to act desperate, but she’s not very convincing. To make matters worse, we quickly learn that her anguish was just an act, but apparently, her would-be protectors totally buy it. They don’t see through the woman’s mediocre-at-best fake distress, and in my opinion, that makes the entire scene even less believable.

To be fair, Jamie Bernadette, the actress who plays Briar, does have her moments. There are a number of times when she has to take on a much more soft-spoken, almost sensual tone of voice, and Bernadette completely nails it. Similarly, Victoria Vertuga is pretty unconvincing as Tasha for most of Cold Blows the Wind, but she gets a lot better in the third act. I can’t get into specifics without spoiling the movie, but suffice it to say that the difference is night and day.

It’s a pretty impressive turnaround, but unfortunately, it’s too little too late. By the time I got to that final act, I had already lost interest in Tasha and her story (as well as just about everything else about this movie), and Vertuga’s surprising salvage operation wasn’t quite enough to get me back on board.

Next, let’s talk about the horror in Cold Blows the Wind. On the one hand, there’s some genuinely creepy imagery here. For example, we see a number of eerie decorations around the house, and when Tasha and Dean walk out to bury the jogger’s body, writer/director Eric Williford uses darkness and fog quite effectively.

But those legitimately spooky moments are pretty few and far between. Most of the time, the horror in Cold Blows the Wind is rather lackluster. The scares aren’t scary, and it often feels like the film is trying to artificially manufacture an atmosphere of dread rather than letting it arise naturally from the story.

Most notably, the outdoor shots are soaked in blue light, and even when the characters are inside the house, that color seeps in through the windows. Now, I can’t say for sure why the filmmakers went with that color, but to me, it seems like an attempt at creating atmosphere. And unfortunately, it doesn’t work. Granted, the blue light adds a nice touch when it subtly creeps into the house, but when you’re outside, it’s too much. It quickly starts to feel contrived, so after a while, it took me out of the film a bit every time one of the characters left the house.

Last but not least, I have to mention an issue I had with the story in Cold Blows the Wind. For the most part, it’s a pretty intriguing concept, but there’s one element that doesn’t quite fit. When Briar tells Tasha and Dean that she saw them burying the jogger’s body, she also says that dead things have a tendency not to stay dead in those woods, and she ends up being right.

The jogger eventually comes back to life, so I thought this movie was going to be a mashup of Pet Sematary and I Know What You Did Last Summer. But it’s nothing of the sort. That zombie has absolutely nothing to do with the rest of the story, so Cold Blows the Wind would’ve been exactly the same without it. The whole thing just feels shoehorned-in, so the movie would’ve been better if that subplot had been left on the cutting room floor.

In case you couldn’t tell, I was pretty disappointed with Cold Blows the Wind. Sure, it has a few redeeming qualities, like some creepy imagery, but on the whole, this film is pretty ineffective. The horror is mediocre, the acting is hit or miss, and part of the story is entirely inconsequential, so if you’re looking for some good new horror to watch, I suggest you look elsewhere.