OUT OF DARKNESS Review: An Unfamiliar Setting Plays Host to Familiar Themes

45,000 years ago, a small boat reaches the shores of a raw and desolate landscape. A group of six, led by Adem, have struggled across the sea to find a new home. Adem has brought with him his wife, Ave, who is pregnant with his next child, and their son, Heron. With them is Geirr, Adem’s brother, Odal the sage, and Beyah the stray. 

 

They are starving, and desperation sets in as they cross the stark expanse towards the distant mountains that promise the shelter they need to survive. They came with just the clothes on their backs and the tools in their hands. That is not the worst of it, for when night comes, fear sets in when they discover they are not alone.

 

One grim event after another starts to break the already contenuous harmony of the group and the fight for survival comes not only outwardly, but inwardly as well. You're only as safe as the people you surround yourself with and when that begins to break down danger comes at you from all sides. 

 

As per the intro paragraph Out of Darkness takes place 45,000 years ago. We are talking human prehistory, the dawn of modern humans (the names Adem and Ave look familiar for a reason). Upper Paleolithic if you need to be technical about it, which I did, which is why I’m sharing that tid bit with you now. Look, you’re learning just as I am. Going back this far into human history creates the scenario where our cadre of characters only have themselves and the weapons they’ve fashioned out of wood, stone and animal tusk (at first glance, to us, they appear as indigenous peoples from the northern most, Arctic regions of our hemisphere). It is not wholly unlike what happened in a much higher octane action-first flick like Prey.

 

Shot mostly in natural light - the way the old gods intended it - and set against the beautiful Highlands of Scotland, Out of Darkness is an impressive looking film. We also appreciate how Cummings plays with perception here, switching up the blocking while still within the frame. One moment you’re taking in a closeup and the next the same characters are crossing through the same frame, further back in the shot. 

 

Further to that, once the horror and terror kicks in Cummings keeps the creature mostly hidden, often with only slivers of it visible between trees off in the distance. There is a very impressive sequence early on when Adem ventures into the dark to hunt it down. Don’t watch him, watch behind him. If you think you saw the creature lurking in the background you’re probably right. We had the benefit of watching Out of Darkness at home - not the way the old gods intended it, we know - which allowed us to confirm when second guesses were correct or Cummings had just done such a good job of winding us up our imaginations took over and we started seeing the creature everywhere. 

 

The stunning and sprawling landscapes are countered with a limited field of vision once the party is forced to enter the forests. Counter to Adem’s opinion that they are safe out in the open, that is not true when even the light from the fire can only reach so far out from the source. Nit pickers have pointed out that a world devoid of atmospherical pollution would be bathed in starlight from the heavens above. Okay science nerds, while we agree with you how long has it been since anyone in Scotland (real or standing in for an imaginative, pre-historic land) and anyone else in the UK seen natural light from anything but behind cloud cover?

 

Cummings' debut feature film, Out of Darkness, comes from Ruth Greenberg's first feature length screenplay. If you’re new to all of this you may end up being surprised by Greenberg’s conclusion to their story. For the constant consumer of cinema with too many years under our belts it is an ending we’ve seen played out before. All this mentioning of monsters in the dark? Well, that part is already figured out before it happens. 

 

When the survivors reach the caves there is still time for a surprise or two. However, we pretty much knew where Cummings and Greenberg were going before the final act began, before the shoe dropped. We can not say that in the end that Out of Darkness was disappointing, just, unsurprising. Thus, is Greenberg’s screenplay guilty of being too ironic? Does the pursuit of deeper meaning take away from the experience of watching it? Only if you let it. 

 

Cummings debut feature film is consistently good, persistently tense and for some of you, probably surprising. But, in this unfamiliar pre-historic terrain there lies a well worn path, narratively speaking. 

 

Bleecker Street’s horror thriller Out of Darkness is in theaters today, February 9, 2024.