Out of Darkness

45,000 years ago, a group of people desperately try to evade a malevolent force, they must hone their survival skills to stay alive.

I watched this at The Odeon, as part of the Screen Unseen releases, I'd like to rewatch again at home, just to try and understand it a little better.

Billed to me as a horror movie, and whilst I'd say there are horror elements, please don't go expecting a horror movie, if you do, you'll be disappointed.

Whilst I wouldn't say it's my type of film, there are several positives I took away. The cinematography is quite something, it looks amazing, and the actors do a grand job, consider the language they're using, and there is a degree of tension and expectation. The music is good too, very 80's.

Sadly it just go anywhere, and the pacing for me was the major frustration, when I'm in the cinema and fidgeting, I know I'm at the wrong film.

I can't really go much higher than a five, as it committed the biggest film sin of all, it was boring, but it's not without merit.

5/10.

A small, hungry, group of Stone Age hipsters are hunted through a harsh landscape (the wilds of Scotland) by an unseen, seemingly supernatural, presence. More of a low-key indie survival thriller than an actual horror film, which I think it is being marketed as. In fact, if you go in expecting a horror film, you may be quite disappointed (or even want your money back). Despite the occasional bloody scene, it's a little like a horror film that's been made by and for people who don't really like horror films, but want a bit of that 'Saint Maud' action.

Grumbling about lack of 'horror' aside, the performances are fine, the cinematography, sound and costumes are excellent, and it's impressive that it was made for a low budget, out in the cold and rain, under covid restrictions. It's a good-looking, atmospheric film. If someone you knew had made it, you'd be very impressed. But compared to films that share a similar plot, like Predator, The Ritual, Valhalla Rising, Deliverance...well, it just can't compete. It lacks the tension, suspense, thrills, catharsis, tight script, and great characterisation. It's just not that engaging. That said, if you enjoy slightly arty low-budget UK indie films, you might find something to enjoy here.

This movie depends on almost endless scenes of its six stone age characters running through scrubby open terrain and dark forests, with whip pans and intercut close-ups of terrified faces, to create a sense of danger and unseen horror. Trouble is, this obvious packing of the narrative with ginned-up suspense achieves nothing in terms of drama or horror. Added to that are a lot of unanswered questions about character motivation and the plausibility of the so-called demons tracking our hapless sextet. The inevitable "reveal" is both laughable and inexplicable. I truly appreciate the attempt by the filmmakers to create a low-budget feature out of spare elements and a minimalist sensibility, but at times I felt insulted that this movie expected to get away with what was clearly a woefully under-imagined scenario.

They advertised it as a (pre-historic) horror, but I would call it a thriller. It's rather slow-paced and the creepiness is mainly atmospheric: long scenes on barren hills and valleys and in dense woods, often in pitch-black nights. In between there are a few exciting outbursts of frenetic action in confrontations with what seem to be monsters; the relentless violence is impressively realistic. The cinematography is beautiful, but with so many dark scenes and with people who are difficult to tell apart since they're packed in thick layers of fur and have smeared faces, it's at many times hard to follow exactly what is happening.

The actors are made to speak the whole movie through some ancient (made up?) foreign language. I suppose this was meant to enhance the feeling of authenticity, but it's a bit tiresome to have to read subtitles for 85 minutes, distracting me from following the images. I also kept imagining what a strain it must have been to learn all these incomprehensible words and sentences. Personally, I wouldn't have minded it when they had chosen for English dialogues. And by the way, how did leader Adem get such a perfectly shaven head, did they have back then some kind of trimmers?

There's a nice twist in the end, with even an existential message: however different people may outwardly look and act, inside they are basically the same human beings. So in spite of the rather cynical and violent conclusion, the movie ended with at least a hopeful touch.

One sentence summary: After embarking on a long voyage, a tribe of ancient humans must navigate a foreign land to find shelter while being hunted by unknown adversaries at night.

The idea for which this film's plot was formulated had some interesting potential. The setting was expansive, the practical effects were outstanding, and the acting was mostly admirable, but the progression of the story led to an ending that left a sour taste in my mouth, to say the least. The core conflict of morality versus survival is certainly a well explored topic, however when portrayed correctly, it still packs a punch. With another rewrite and some fine-tuning of the script, Out of Darkness could've achieved something great. But as it stands, I'll mostly likely look back on this film as something of a missed opportunity.