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.

I might've had my expectations too high going into the movie. The trailer seemed like a Stone Age Horror, but the movie took a twist I didn't expect. I wouldn't pay to watch it, but streaming it wouldn't be bad.

I left with more questions than anything. It is all subtitled, which I felt added to the atmosphere of the movie and was a good touch. It starts with a group of travelers (maybe the first Homo sapiens?) leaving to find their own land. As they get hungrier and hungrier, you seem them travel to find food and shelter. Next thing you know, some "demon" steals the leader's son, and the group goes into a manhunt trying to find the boy. This leads them to the woods that they were trying to avoid. They obviously go into the woods, and try to chase down the "demon." They come to a weird bloody pit, and then turn and run away from what they're chasing. Long story short, then get picked off until 2 remain. They trick, ambush, and unmask the "demon," and a Neanderthal human is underneath. The Neanderthal takes off running, they chase it to its cave, they get in a tussle, they kill a different Neanderthal, they find the stolen son, one of the travelers gets killed by the OG Neanderthal, the remaining traveler and son light the cave on fire and escape out the back, the OG Neanderthal follows but gets stuck at the exit, then the traveler brutally bashes in the Neanderthal's head. The som finally decides to speak up and say that the Neanderthals had initially decided to save him and help him, and is upset the traveler killed them. The traveler and child learn to survive. The end.

It could've been better, in my opinion. There are so many holes and unanswered questions. We learn the Neanderthals have a cave on the other side of the forest than where the travelers first arrive. You're telling me that the two Neanderthals just knew that a new group had arrived? Also, how did the Neanderthals completely clean up an entire mammoth carcass, leaving nothing but the skull and skin...again, on the other side of the forest? There is a weird black goo that is never explained, apparently left by the Neanderthals. The son explains they wanted to help him, but they didn't want to help the rest of the group? In fact, they outright murdered the leader in a BRUTAL way, and the old man too. But then they take care to give the pregnant lady a proper burial? Also, one of the Neanderthals grabbed the son by the fire, fully carried him across the forest, and must have ran at lightning speed because the dad was CHASING them down lol. Also, there is the weird meat pit in the forest, but the whole beginning is the travelers finding absolutely no food...so where did all the food come from? Lastly, the son legit doesn't explain a thing when he's found and lets the last traveler just absolutely bash the remaining Neanderthal. I was so confused and left wondering.

I can give props to the music, and I thought the twist was good! It went downhill after that for me. I want this remade, but with an actual demon involved...maybe like the Netflix "The Ritual," but Stone Age like.

Now, I had never heard about this 2022 movie titled "Out Of Darkness" prior to sitting down to watch it. But I have to admit that the movie's cover and the movie's synopsis definitely was interesting enough to make me stop and take notice.

And without knowing what I was getting myself into, then director Andrew Cumming had every opportunity to impress and entertain me with "Out Of Darkness".

The storyline, as written by Ruth Greenberg, Andrew Cumming and Oliver Kassman, proved to be somewhat bland and stale. There wasn't really a whole lot going on, and most of the movie was just the audience watching the group of people stumbling around the hostile environment, mostly in the dark, trying not to wet themselves because of the sounds of some unseen creature lurking about in the darkness. Or watching them stumble about the forest in the daytime. This might have worked well for a horror movie in the 1980s, but not so much in 2022.

I found the narrative in the movie to be a swing and a miss, and it was definitely a movie that was progressively getting more and more difficult to keep an interest in watching.

While I was not familiar with any of the members of the cast, I have to say that it definitely was something I liked about the movie. Just a shame that the cast had to little to work with in terms of script, storyline, characters and narrative.

Something which I did like about "Out of Darkness", was the language that they used in the movie. It added a nice touch to the atmosphere of the overall impression.

This is not a movie that I would recommend you to rush out and get to watch. The movie had a promising synopsis, sure, but director Andrew Cumming just didn't deliver an outstanding movie here. And I can in all honesty say that I am never returning to watch "Out of Darkness" a second time.

My rating of "Out of Darkness" lands on a three out of ten stars.