Out of Darkness

Out of Darkness

Director ~ Andrew Cumming

Writers ~ Ruth Greenberg, Andrew Cumming, Oliver Kassman

2022, United Kingdom

Stars ~ Iola Evans, Arno Lüning, Rosebud Melarkey

 

Horror tropes in a Stone Age setting makes for a freshening of familiar material. There are deep shadows, conflicts in the group, noises in the dark and a pit of bones and remains. The mood is dour and desperate with the wide-open spaces just as threatening as the claustrophobia of the dense forest. Its most impressive and distinguishing feature is the invented language that the characters/actors speak – called “Tola”, invented by Daniel Andersson and based on Arabic and Basque, a defining highlight that is akin to the linguistic attention and ambition of Robert Eggers. It certainly sounds meticulous and convincing. But this conceit doesn’t crimp the pace as Ruth Greenberg’s script and Oliver Kassman directs to tear through the familiarities and with the accent on characterisation. 

 

This is a group not of familial bonds but one brought together by despair and necessity. They are not the usual two-dimensional characters that this kind of scenario can coast on, although the script is clear to make clear how their identities are subsumed by hierarchy and their designated status in the social unit. They are recognisably layered outcasts, defined by the roles they must play and the conflict this has with their deeper personalities. This is then the point, an attempt at a realistic rendition of the brutality needed to survive and at the basis of civilisation.  

 

In this way, it makes this tale of a burgeoning civilisation an introspective, pensive, and credible one. ‘Out of Darkness’ emerges from its use of tropes to make a commentary on the brutality inherent in the survival and brutality of civilisation, developing as a headier excursion than it seems to superficially begin. It’s this that elevates it more than just its entertaining allusions to horror.  If not quite exceptional, a little bit of a minor gem.