Directed By Andrew Cumming

Starring – Chuku Modu, Kit Young, Safia Oakley-Green

The Plot – 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 imagined.

Rated R for violence and some grisly images.

Out of Darkness | Official Trailer | Bleecker Street (youtube.com)

POSITIVES

In the high stakes battle of predator versus prey, transparancy garners the ultimate advantage, especially in a film as viscerally grueling and anxious as Cumming’s feature length debut, which ratchets the tension to eleven during its most transfixingly tense and claustrophobic sequences. What’s impressive about declaring it claustrophobic is that the film mostly takes place out in the open, but darkness and obscurity leads to an overwhelming panic among characters that even with the advantageous numbers on their side, they’re constantly given the underdog framing, thanks to meaningful framing and vulnerable camera work that dares the audience to look over the shoulders of the characters for unbelievable things that go bump in the night. Cumming subscribes to the Blair Witch approach of less being more, so depiction of this creature, as well as the spontaneity of its attacks, are brief but effectively impactful, allowing Cumming the accessibility of maintaining monster mystique, especially since so much of its impact and influence is imaginatively driven by us the audience seeking any kind of clarity in tying the mystery together. Aside from the movie’s gripping tension during an adrenaline-fueled second act, the film is also beautifully realized in everything from the scenic splendor of its isolated setting, as well as the spell-binding cinematography from Ben Fordesman, who intoxicates us with entrancing visuals pertaining to fog covered mountainsides and hypnotic movements of the lens, that casually contort the otherworldly influence of our human protagonists walking into the den of the beast, inside of what feels like a haunted forest. Fordesman’s attributes this to tilting of the camera upside down or revolved panning of the various environments, studying as much about the conditions that immerse us in the plight of our protagonists, all the while imbedding the film and its limitation in budgetary production values with artistic merit that goes a long way in crafting appeal for the silver screen that it has spent two years working towards. This is then balanced with a rich combination of practical and computer-generated special effects, which balance believability with morbid beauty, as well as an influencingly impactful score from Adam Janota Bzowski, whose compositions directly influence and maximize intensity within the monster’s many attack sequences. In addition to this, while I had grave issues with most of the movie’s characterization, or lackthereof, the character of Beyah, portrayed with a physical grit by Oakley-Green that is second to no one, grows with intrigue on the animalistic elements of her characterization that she wholeheartedly embraces for the situation. Beyah begins as the stray of the group, and is therefore isolated as the weakest link, but as the script unravels and the conflict persists, it’s clear that she has a knack for survival that conveys her character isn’t afraid of getting her hands dirty, in turn supplanting for Safia Oakley-Green what is a physically demanding and emotionally wrenching breakthrough performance that feels on the same scale as Amber Midthunder, during 2022’s “Prey”. With very little breakout capabilities in the limitations of the dialogue abundance or the demand of sharing the screen with five other characters, Oakley-Green captivates with her unshakeable resiliency, and as a result we not only delight in the one character in the film who feels vastly more intelligent than her peers, but also a woman who sucks up fear and uncertainty for the desire to survive, which takes her from spotty stray to lethal leader almost overnight. Lastly, I would be doing a grave disservice if I didn’t mention the cool factor of the film crafting its own unique language, “Tola”, which is delivered endlessly by the entirety of the ensemble’s various interactions. Considering this story takes place during the Stone Age, at a time when geographical culture didn’t exactly exist, filling in the gap with a language of choice is very important, and instead of alienating one historical accuracy over the other, the film’s chief academic advisor, Daniel Andersson, as well as its archaeoligal consultant, Rob Dinnis, they opted for a language crafted entirely for their own, which makes this idea feel all the more realized in theological depth for its time period.

NEGATIVES

Unfortunately, for as many things as “Out of Darkness” does wonderfully, it wastes away potential with strange creative decisions inside of its script that continuously tested my patience and investment to the engagement. This should be easy enough with an 82-minute run time that should whisk by with overwhelming urgency in the conflict, but the pacing is quite the opposite, beginning with an opening act that feels like it rushes to its set-up, and a stalled climactic third act, which loses every ounce of its tension and mystique after a bonehead big reveal that I will discuss in just a second. It’s rare in a film that the second act stands apart as its overwhelming best, but that’s the case we have here in a film that peaks in the middle of its story, then rides the redundancy in structure of literally any slasher horror movie we’ve ever seen, in which a character will isolate themselves from the group, for whatever reason, then find themselves the victim of an attack by this unforeseen force in the night that continuously dominates them. Speaking of said creature, an aforementioned big reveal at the end of the second act spoils the mystique of this mesmerizing creature, in turn leading to a draining of suspense that completely underwhelmed the climactic final battle. This obviously won’t feel the same for everyone, but to me I compare it to something like “The Village”, where an unexpected twist completely leveled the story from the elements that made it appealing in the first place, in turn leading to some unintentionally hilarious moments during the newfound antagonists that somehow rid the creature of its remarkable strength and cat-like speed and spontaneity. Adding even more unintentional hilarity and uninvestment to the proceedings are these one-dimensional character types who we’re supposed to invest in and care for. It’s not enough that everyone outside of Beyah is an untrustworthy dirtbag, but even worse that they make these bizarrely stupid decisions in logic that all but set them up for death, allowing the creature to frequently get the better of them, which is all the more hilarious once you consider where this movie goes with those supernatural predators. Finally, while the third act and its absence of suspense kept this film from ever being above average, a last second stitched on message to the closing moments took my final grade down an entire point, especially considering it comes out of nowhere, and doesn’t feel remotely earned in this particular film. Adding to the benign stupidity of a second act monster twist, the film’s third act then tops it by contorting cohesive storytelling with a twist of its own, which leaves this film swimming in pretentious waters so shallow that it sinks the integrity of being just an entertainingly bloody good time, instead opting for a half-assed message of togetherness that was tacked-on as heavily as the change in my final grade.

OVERALL
“Out of Darkness” is a lean, tense and mesmerizing survival thriller that subscribes to the sentiment of less meaning so much more, with regards to depiction of its beast that goes bump in the night. Despite its prominence in production that transcribe a dollar’s value more than most films, flat characterization and underwhelming second half decisions waste away the once brutal bite of its bark, in turn cementing a creatively conflicting and attention-challenging experience with barely enough entertainment value to fill its brief 82-minute run time.

My Grade: 6/10 or C