Out of Darkness (2024) is directed by Andrew Cumming and stars Safia Oakley-Green, Chuku Modu, Kit Young, Arno Luning, Iola Evans, and Luna Mwezi. The film follows a small group of stone-age humans attempting to settle in a new land. Arriving at an unspecified location that resembles Scotland/Ireland, the group soon realizes that the land is barren and unable to sustain crops. Doubting the decisions of their leader, Adem (Modu), distrust begins to form between members of the group. When Adem’s son, Heron (Mwezi), is kidnapped by a mysterious entity, he emotionally leads the group through a dangerous forest in pursuit of the captor, putting all of their lives at risk. When their situation devolves and certain characters begin to show their true colors, young forager Beyah (Oakley-Green) is forced to rise to the occasion and lead the group to safety, no matter the cost. This is all while they’re stalked by a mysterious and violent force that threatens their lives at every turn. 

The performances here are an interesting point of discussion. The film only runs a swift 88 minutes and therefore doesn’t leave a lot of room for nuanced character development. A lot of these characters a relegated to being presented as caricatures, they’re motivations being extremely basic. However, these basic motivations seem to fit the time in which these characters exist. It makes sense that these characters’ biggest motivation is survival. Instead of feeling lazy, it fits like a glove and feels dealy accurate. The film also doesn’t shy away from presenting these characters as humans who are strictly attached to traditional power dynamics. The men are violent and mean, seeing the women as tools for reproduction, and the elderly as a burden that only slows down the group. The presentation of these character dynamics is wholly authentic, but it does result in the characters being tough to connect with. I often felt that certain actions/events were jarring simply because I couldn’t connect with the motivations behind them. The authenticity comes at the expense of a true connection to the characters.

Even though the film is only a short 88 minutes, I still feel as if the story moves like a slug in its first act. It takes its time to introduce us to the characters, but none of it ever feels entertaining/compelling. It’s a very basic character setup that forgets about making these characters compelling. No one cares about being introduced to a character if that introduction is as boring and basic as it gets. Not to mention, not a single character is presented in a likable way. Again, these are desperate humans who will do anything it takes to survive. This leads to a good amount of desperate intensity, but I once again found it hard for me to connect on a personal level. 

After the inciting incident, the film picks up the pace significantly and plays out as your typical survival horror thriller. Nothing particularly new occurs, but what’s truly disappointing is where this all leads to. The big reveal, in the end, is basic and sacrifices the effective mystery that is sustained throughout the film. It boils down to a pretty unoriginal message of: “Let’s just try to get along instead of fighting one another.” Besides this pretty basic message, I oftentimes didn’t understand what the film was trying to say or get at. It’s frustrating to see such a well-made film be hampered by such a pedestrian script.

Overall, this a pretty messy film that’s well-made on a technical level, but fails creatively. The performances are effective in terms of what the director wants them to do but often feel cold and distant because of it. The intensity is palpable but is forgettable in hindsight due to where it eventually leads. I can only recommend this to diehard fans of survival horror, but even then, those audiences might recognize how weak this is compared to other films in the genre. At the very least, it doesn’t overstay its welcome and provides enough surprises to avoid being described as “boring.” That being said, I’m happy to forget about this film for the foreseeable future. C+