Set during the Stone Age, the horror film “Out of Darkness” brings a modern twist to the survival story.
The film, which marks both director Andrew Cumming and screenwriter Ruth Greenberg’s respective feature debuts, centers on a teenager (Safia Oakley-Green) who must survive immigrating across the sea and into a foreign land that may or may not house monsters.
The official synopsis for the indie horror film reads: “A group of six have struggled across the narrow sea to find a new home. They are starving, desperate, and living 45,000 years ago. First they must find shelter, and they strike out across the tundra wastes towards the distant mountains that promise the abundant caves they need to survive. But when night falls, anticipation turns to fear and doubt as they realize they are not alone. Terrifying sounds suggest something monstrous at large in this landscape, something that could kill or steal them away. As relationships in the group fracture, the determination of one young woman reveals the terrible actions taken to survive.”
Kit Young, Chuku Modu, Iola Evans, Arno Lüning, and Luna Mwezi round out the core cast. The survival thriller, previously titled “The Origin,” debuted in North America at the 2023 Fantastic Fest. Oliver Kassman (“Saint Maud”) produces.
“Out of Darkness” additionally was nominated for five 2023 British Independent Film Awards and won Best Breakthrough Performance for Oakley-Green, whose character ages a decade onscreen during the duration of the movie.
Director Cumming crafted his own language to be used by the characters to capture the Paleolithic age, collaborating with an archaeologist and a linguist to create a fictional tongue. “I almost lost my nerve at one point and said, ‘I think we should just do it in English because I’m worried that people are just going to think this is nuts,’” Cumming said in a press statement. “I just started to feel as a director, that if I went to see ‘Out of Darkness’ and it was in English, I’d feel that director was being lazy. I don’t want to be the lazy director.”
“Out of Darkness” premieres February 9 in theaters from Bleecker Street. Check out the trailer below.
