Hammer Films put its name on this one, and it’s the studio’s first new monster in more than sixty years. That alone had me in the seat. Casey Walker directs from a script he wrote with Peter Vicaire and Pascal Trottier, and the setup is pure Hammer. A remote outpost in 19th-century Canada. A small group of survivors. A punishing winter, and something circling out in the dark. Then the hunger starts, and it’s for human flesh.

Ithaqua comes from August Derleth’s Wind-Walker, a sky god with burning red eyes who owes a heavy debt to Wendigo stories. Cold outside, suspicion inside, a monster with a mythology behind it. On paper, that’s a cozy ride over chilly terrain.

The first hour is where it could lose people, or lull them to sleep. I understand the need for setup. The payoff depends on knowing who these people are to each other. It’s still a long wait. The ensemble doesn’t help much either. Everyone is either swinging big or pulling so far back they barely register, with almost nothing in between.

Luke Hemsworth, the brother nobody guesses first, keeps it close to the vest. Kevin Durand brings his usual steady weight and an indeterminate accent. Michael Pitt chews every piece of scenery that isn’t nailed down, which should shock no one. Pamela Matthews plays a First Nations elder who works out what’s happening too late to stop it. Leenah Robinson has a big role, and her work is the weak spot for me.

What finally arrives is worth some of the wait. The last stretch goes wet and loud, with evisceration, decapitation, and cannibalism shown in full. Nothing is left to your imagination. That’s also when we learn what Ithaqua is and what it has been doing out there. Until then this is a survival story first and a creature feature a distant second. The cinematography gets so dark that I lost track of who was where, and that stayed a problem. Everyone is bundled in pelts and fur, so the figures blur together. Two deaths are pure script mechanics, staged because the story needs those characters gone. One method is so silly I took it for a fake-out.

Still, Hammer fans will forgive plenty, and that logo coming up does the trick.