I was very intrigued when I saw a trailer for Out of Darkness so I decided to see it last night. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this story of survival set 45,000 years in the past. A group of prehistoric humans, including the leader Adem (Chuku Modu), his mate Ave (Iola Evans), his son Heron (Luna Mwezi), his younger brother Geirr (Kit Young), a wise elder named Odal (Arno Luening), and a "spare" named Beyah (Safia Oakley-Green), leave their home and tribe to escape a famine and travel across the sea to a new land. However, the landscape is barren and inhospitable so they become weaker and weaker from lack of food and shelter, especially Ave who is pregnant. They begin to suspect that there is something demonic stalking them in the darkness and their fears are confirmed when Heron is taken in the middle of the night. Soon everyone is in danger from the mysterious threat but the greatest danger comes from their growing distrust of each other. The dialogue is in the completely invented language of Tola, which is really cool and adds to the authenticity, and the characters, based on archetypes, are very compelling with committed performances from the relatively unknown cast. The action, once it gets going, is tense with some incredibly unnerving moments enhanced by immersive cinematography, eerie lighting, menacing sound design (the sound of footsteps during a particularly fraught moment is almost unbearable), and a pulse-pounding score. I was genuinely scared several times but it was more for what I didn't see than for what I did so, once the monster is revealed, it is a bit anticlimactic even if the message about the origin of hatred for others who are different is powerful and thought-provoking. I would highly recommend this atmoshpheric thriller, especially on the big screen.
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