It’s difficult to tell what exactly The Secret of Sinchanee wants to be. Is it a ghost story? Is it a detective story and thriller? Is it a film that leans into folk horror? The film contains all these various elements, with a bit too much plot stuffed into its run time.

Steven Grayhm plays Will Stark, a tow truck driver forced to return to his childhood home after his father’s untimely death. Grayhm, who also wrote and directed the film, does a fine enough job in the lead role. Will carries a lot of trauma. A hiker, possessed by a Native American death god called Atlantow, murdered his sister and mom when he was a kid. Will suffers from insomnia and has reoccurring visions of the murders. His sister, meanwhile, appears as a black-eyed spook who’s generally creepy. She’s a sinister ghoul who won’t let Will catch a wink of sleep.

This film would have worked better if it anchored itself more to Will’s trauma and his reluctance to return home and deal with his past. The house is an arresting, hair-raising presence in the film. The problem is that it’s not featured enough. Instead, too much of the film veers into a lot of other narrative threads. First, there’s the story of two detectives/ex romantic partners, Carrie Donovan (Tamara Austin) and Drew Carter (Nate Boyer), who investigate the disappearance of a young woman and find an occult symbol branded on her flesh. There’s also the story of the land itself, possessed and haunted by Atlantow. Then, there’s a character introduced way too late in the film who once battled the evil spirit and saved Will when he was a kid. All of this becomes tough to follow, even if these storylines eventually overlap.

That said, despite the film having an issue with too many plot threads, it does contain a tense atmosphere and excellent cinematography. Set and filmed in Massachusetts, the winter skies and snowbanks add to the chill factor. The aerial shots of the dense forest create a feeling that something lurks in those woods. The film really makes use of its setting. It would have functioned better if Atlantow was never shown in full costume, however. The monster simply doesn’t scare, and its voice doesn’t help much, either.

The film also builds to a lackluster final faceoff–to put it bluntly, it’s an anticlimactic scene that feels like a deus ex machina type of situation.

The Secret of Sinchanee is Grayhm’s feature debut. Despite the meandering storylines and the fact this film would have benefited from a tighter script, there are some positives. This is an incredibly atmospheric feature, proving that Grayhm has quite an eye as a filmmaker. I do look forward to whatever he does next. There’s potential here but too many storylines that take away from the core narrative about a man’s trauma.

6 Out of 10