OUT OF DARKNESS (2022) – Review

As we’re now deep into the middle of the first quarter of the “cinema year” of 2024, here comes yet another horror thriller creeping into the multiplexes. And just what sets this one apart from the other “spook-taculars”? Well, it does concern a disparate group of chiller flick tropes (a skittish kid, a superstitious elder, etc.) all fighting for survival as their companions are picked off “one by one”. Not unique, but this one’s setting is very different. This story takes place on the desolate landscape of this planet over 45,000 years ago. And no, in case you’re wondering, CGI-created kajiu aren’t the culprits. But something strange and weird is roaming about, an entity or creature (perhaps plural) that’s stalking this group, then striking from OUT OF DARKNESS.

We first meet this motley “tribe” huddled around a flickering fire surrounded by pitch black. A preteen lad named Heron (Luna Mwezi) pleads with his father’s new pregnant mate Ave (Iola Evans) to tell him a story to distract him from his fears…and hunger. She dismisses him, so Heron goes to the “elder” Odal (Arno Luening), who spins a tale of their recent past. Under the guidance of their leader, Heron’s papa Adem (Chuko Modu), they split off from a larger tribe and took to the sea on a makeshift raft in search of a more prosperous land, better for farming and hunting. Once ashore the group, which includes Adem’s timid younger brother Geir (Kit Young) and a “castoff” orphan teenage woman Beyah (Safia Oakley-Green), discovered a barren land surrounded by a daunting mountain range and a dark, dense forest. As Heron drifts into slumber, Beyah is stunned to discover that she has had her first period and tries to hide it from the others. The next night Heron ventures away from the fire to relieve himself and is snatched away. Adem and Grier dash into the darkness, but return without the lad. The next day they decide that Heron must be somewhere in those dangerous woods. While searching for him, the tribe finds several bloody bits of bone, making them wonder about what could be lurking there. They rush to find Heron before nightfall and another group member vanishes.

With a setting and tone that reminds me of 2018’s ALPHA and a bit of 1981’s QUEST FOR FIRE (minus the extreme “brow” makeup), this film is an interesting mix of genres that works for most of its zippy 87 minutes. All of the actors commit to their roles, even with the “language” of “Tola”, though the cast’s breakout is the feisty determined Beyah played by a somber, energetic Oakley-Green. The Scottish locales convey the desolation of an emerging new world while offering little hope for these “transplants”, with the steep peaks and maze-like forests. Director Andrew Cumming establishes a mood of impending disaster with the dense night photography and a soundtrack full of a weird disorienting cacophony of guttural wails and screeches. But then the atmospheric flow is brought to a sudden thud by a third-act reveal that’s not much of a payoff. All that build-up bears little fruit. Those horror fans searching for a new angle may get enough jolts to justify the trip, but for the most part OUT OF DARKNESS, runs out of ideas, before it (sorry) caves in.

2.5 Out of 4

OUT OF DARKNESS is now playing in select theatres