Out of Darkness, 2023.
Directed by Andrew Cumming.
Starring Kit Young, Chuku Modu, Iola Evans, Luna Mwezi, Safia Oakley-Green, and Arno Luening.
SYNOPSIS:
In the Old Stone Age, a disparate gang of early humans band together in search of a new land. But when they suspect a malevolent, mystical being is hunting them down, the clan are forced to confront a danger they never envisaged.
There is certainly no lack of ambition in Andrew Cumming’s Out of Darkness (a story conceived by Ruth Greenberg, Oliver Kassman, and Cumming, with a script by Greenberg), a prehistoric survival thriller where the filmmakers have done historical research to create an entirely new language for the film. Beyond that, there is also worthwhile interest in exploring the dynamics of this clan, comprised of a family of four, an elder, and a stray.
Early on, Andrew Cumming also works up enough dread and eerie mystery to keep these components working in tandem, but that ambition disappointingly fizzles out into unremarkable sequences of suspense and familiar messaging amongst a sure-to-be-divisive reveal that, while plausible and disturbingly realistic, also feels a bit too generic and unimaginative compared to the rest of the story.
Adem (Chuku Modu) has taken his family far away into uncharted territory under the impression that there will be a suitable, safe cave home for his pregnant wife, Ave (Iola Evans), and two children, Heron (Luna Mwezi) and Geirr (Kit Young), dragging along an elder (Arno Lüning) bluntly advising against everything the father is doing. The elder speaks of something dangerous out there in the wild, potentially a monster or demon. Naturally, no one really listens until they come across a brutally murdered mammoth and a human who has had their mouth savagely ripped apart.
In a bizarre turn of events, for the stray Beyah (a formidable and resourceful Safia Oakley-Green), this allows an opportunity for a reprieve from one kind of danger while up against something else. Adem hasn’t recruited this girl into the fold for noble intentions but rather someone to tell his children campfire stories and, much more maliciously, someone to give him another child upon noticing that she is fertile. As he puts it, she is there to be and do whatever he wants. However, when everyone is under attack, there is a slight sense of unity, with her genuinely ready to protect herself and those who mean her no harm.
Naturally, when the dust settles, there will be a new hierarchy within this Neanderthal group, at least among the ones that survive. That’s also more than enough to hold interest, especially when considering the handsomely mounted cinematography from Ben Fordesman capturing these sweeping landscapes and vistas. Likewise, the makeup work is also impressive and makes these characters look the part, even if they still feel somewhat too attractive to be prehistoric.
The issue is that, after a while, the terror dries up, and the atmosphere becomes less efficient and more indulgent; there is a moment where one character enters the cave unquestionably filled with danger, with the film meandering as this person walks in every direction. It feels like padding on an already short 85-ish minute running time.
Also, while marketing is irrelevant to film criticism itself (the movie is the movie), it is simply lame and not creative regarding what the filmmakers have settled on for the grand reveal. That point has been made countless times in film over the decades, which is not to say that there is no more room ever to do so again, but that Out of Darkness needs more substance to make it work. Inventing a language and having excellent craftsmanship can only take a film so far.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★
Robert Kojder is a member of the Chicago Film Critics Association and the Critics Choice Association. He is also the Flickering Myth Reviews Editor. Check here for new reviews, follow my Twitter or Letterboxd, or email me at MetalGearSolid719@gmail.com
