Intensity 🩸🩸 out of 🩸🩸🩸🩸🩸
Directed by Andrew Cumming
If fear of the unknown is the most primal of horrors, imagine living in a prehistoric world and arriving on a new barren continent. In the new British Paleolithic horror film Out of Darkness, a group of stone-age nomadic survivors cross the sea and find a land bereft of resources and quarry. Everything is unknown, their worldview is limited to their tribe and the stories passed down from their elders. Their only protection is a spear and a campfire. Scary times, indeed.
Those of you who listen to our Podcast will know that Out of Darkness was one of my selections in the recently published Episode 179: “Horror Movies We Are Looking Forward to in 2024”. This is a unique tale to tell in any format, let alone horror, but it lends itself very well to horror. It most similarly resembles 2022’s Prey in theme and setting. However, that Predator sequel featured an indigenous tribe of North Americans is absolutely modern times by comparison. The Predator franchise film took place in the 1700s. This story takes place in 43,000 B.C.
It is a testament to humankind that our species survived the Cenozoic. We were smart, tough, and curious. But this curiosity pushed us to the edges of the world, and everything that nomadic humans encountered could be big and scary. The darkness, in particular, hid terrors that spears and a campfire would sometimes prove insufficient. The science of this film is accurate within cinematic reason. Thank goodness they did not clutter this film with dinosaurs, a fiction that a few people out there still believe to be historical fact.
The film was shot with natural daylight or campfire light. They shot on location in Northern Scotland, with majestic stony peaks and foreboding forests establishing an investment in the setting. The cast all looked like a tribe of early nomadic humans reaching Northern Europe for the first time. The producers created an original language just for this film. The line deliveries felt natural in this unusual dialogue. So, the whole film felt improbably genuine.
The Cast:
- Chuku Modu plays Adem, the leader of the band of nomads. He is clearly the Alpha.
- Kit Young plays Geirr, Adem’s younger brother; a young hunter. He is cautious and wary.
- Safia Oakley-Green plays Beyah, a new “stray” addition to the group, looking to earn her place within the social structure.
- Iola Evans plays Ave, the hope of the tribe. She is pregnant with Adem’s child.
- Arno Lüning plays Odal, the elder of the group. He is a storyteller and is the most superstitious member of the tribe. He struggles to keep up at times.
- Luna Mwezi plays Heron, Adem’s son. A precocious and incautious kid.
Six settlers arrive on a simple wooden boat on the shores of a rocky beach in the hope of claiming new land and hunting grounds. Adem’s small group of settlers have unfortunately landed on a bleak landscape. But they rejoice nonetheless. They have spent a long time at sea and survived. Surely this land will provide for them. They may be the first humans to have arrived on these shores.
Food and shelter are of paramount importance. These rocky shoals leave little in the way of either. Fortunately, Ave is a fine fire starter, and they gather around to share what little food they have left over from their journey. The campfire provides the storytelling to establish our characters. In the morning they set out to find a more permanent place to settle and hunt. They encounter a downed mammoth decomposing in a ravine. Adem believes that something or someone forced the beast into the ravine, and they should be wary.
That night, at the campfire, strange noises rise from the dark. Something, or someone, yanks Heron into the darkness. As Heron’s cries fade into the distance, the group braces for another assault, but nothing else comes. When morning comes, Adem pushes the group hard, tracking where his son may have gone. They follow the evidence to a dark woodland, and Adem forges on, leading them into the forest. Odal believes that a demon pursues them, and mounting signs certainly back up his beliefs. Whatever took Heron has come into the forest with them.
Going into the forest was a bad idea. They are lost, and eventually, the tribe fractures, both physically and emotionally. Can the bonds of what brought them to these shores keep them together, or will they be destroyed by whatever lies out there in the darkness?
Evaluation
Andrew Cumming did something bold for his first feature film. Out of Darkness impresses on so many technical levels thanks to the care of craft with all of the film details. Some shout-outs to the crew:
- Janna Bannon’s Cenozoic costumes are suitably Stone Age and fairly comfy-looking furs. Extra bonus points for having them survive some extremely athletic action sequences. Abbi Collins’ stunts, with all the running around the Highlands, could not have been easy. There was a lot of running around in these furs.
- Richard Brough’s location scouting was masterful. It is visually stunning, and there are no signs of anything man-made. (This may also have been digitally removed, but it looked primordial.)
- Adam Janota Bzowski’s soundtrack alternately thunders and whispers. It’s hugely impactful and feels appropriately savage.
- And finally, Daniel Andersson’s tola language. Not since Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings has a made-up language had so much of a showcase. Brilliant stuff, pulled off expertly by the entire cast.
My misgivings for the film: It felt a bit like a straight-line plot. I would have liked a little more background for these characters. They are distinct, but I would have liked a bit more (just a little more) back story to them. Why are they here? Where were they before? What were they expecting? Do they know where they are or where they should be?
Despite my misgivings about a straight-line plot, there is a big plot twist as to what happened to Heron. This may be a bit of a divisive plot piece, but history tells us that we were not the only people on this planet. We had to share it with others. And, for better or worse… we won. One last regret. I would have loved to have seen a wooly mammoth or two roaming the landscape. The little boy in me would have loved that. Or a giant ground sloth. I would have liked that too.
Conclusion:
This movie briefly played the film festival circuit last year, and it recently had its theatrical release in the US. It may crest past $2 million, but it was in and out of the theaters in the blink of an eye. There is a chance that it may be playing in a second-run theater near you, or you can wait for it to hit the streaming platforms soon. For your sake, I hope you have a good surround sound system. Turn the lights off. This film works best in the dark, as do most horror movies, but this one in particular rather demands it.
Here is hoping that Andrew Cummings is going to have a Robert Eggers-like career. He has the technical skills to have one if Out of Darkness proves to be a strong indicator.
Out of Darkness is Rated R for violence and gore.