‘Out Of Darkness’ Hides Bright Spots With Weak Story

Releasing nationwide Friday, Feb. 9, the movie Out of Darkness is, on paper, right up my alley. According to the marketing blurb, “45,000 years ago . . . Six people search for a new home in a brutally inhospitable landscape . . . and when night falls, they are stalked by a terrifying enemy.” A premise like that is red meat to an ancient history, anthropology and archeology fan like me. And the execution of that premise, in many ways, is solid and admirable. Ultimately, however, poor story writing and a ham-fisted moral make Out of Darkness less than what it could have been. Spoiler-free review follows.

First, director Andrew Cumming and cinematographer Ben Fordesman deserve praise for taking the Scottish Highlands and using it to its fullest, most austere extent. At times it even evokes the beauty of The Green Knight from 2021. Mist, stone, scrub grass — it all adds up to a beautifully cold and severe environment our cast finds themselves in.

Kudos as well to Cumming and casting director Heather Basten for casting against the stereotype and with the latest scientific information by picking a non-white cast. Yes, that far back, even in what one imagines is Northern Europe, most people looked more like modern Africans or Middle Eastern people than modern white Europeans. That cast does a mostly solid job, with special praise for Chuku Modu (Adem) and Safia Oakley-Green (lead character Beyah). Adem is the leader of his family band that includes Beyah, the young teen stray girl they picked up as they fled to this new land. Also in the family is Adem’s current pregnant mate Ave, his younger brother Geirr, his teen son from a previous mate Heron, and his older male relative Odal.

Also on the positive list is the fact that the creative team brought on multi-linguist Dr. David Andersson to create a new language for the characters to speak, based roughly on Basque. So, yes, you have to read subtitles throughout the entire film. Another expert used in the making of Out of Darkness was Dr. Rob Dinnis, a paleolithic anthropologist and expert on early Stone Age Britain. The weapons, tools and clothing all look as authentic as they likely could be, to my non-expert eye.

So, with all of those positives, why am I not singing the praises of this movie? Basically, it comes down to poor story choices.

First, one of my least favorite tropes in horror — which this movie is to be clear. There’s some disturbing gore, although wonderfully little, but loads of tension. That trope: People makes things bad or worse because they do stupid things. And sure, that’s likely what happens in real life to make many bad situations worse, but it seems lazy to keep relying on that trope.

Second, the big moral message. It’s drilled into your head, even though it is contradicted by previous parts of the movie, and frankly makes no logical sense.

Third, and this is definitely one of my pet peeves — the fact that people whose very existence is based on their survival skills not having the survival skills of even a Bear Grylls or Les Stroud. The worst example is right at the beginning of the movie. We see that the band has rowed a small boat across open ocean to this new land (no spoiler, that info is right on the poster), but upon arriving they realize it is barren and without any plants to forage for food, so they are on the edge of starvation. Boat builders. Starving because, apparently, they forgot how to fish, despite obviously living in an oceanside or riverine environment (how else would they know how to make a boat?).

When you start your movie by asking me to ignore something that obvious, it’s going to be challenging for me to just let go and enjoy the experience. Kudos to all involved that they almost did.

I give Out of Darkness (Escape Plan Productions, Bleeker Street Media; R; 1 hour 27 minutes) a 2.5 out of 5.