Previously known as The Origin, Out of Darkness is the feature film directorial debut of Andrew Cumming and it’s a pretty impressive debut at-that. Described as “stone-age horror” the movie’s unique period setting is full of potential and can go several different ways. Unfortunately, the filmmakers chose the most basic and predictable approach, leading to a somewhat disappointing watch.

The story follows a tribe of early humans as they struggle to survive in this new land that they’ve traveled a great distance to get to. This new land is harsh and seemingly barren, leaving our group nearly starved and still without proper shelter. To make matters worse, once night falls there’s something in the darkness that’s hunting them.

I really dig the premise and I love the distinctive primitive setting. The filmmakers even went as far as to create their own language for the movie, unlike most films, which’ll usually just have them speak British English or something along those lines. The film even has a great look that makes you feel like you’re actually there with these early humans.

Sadly, that’s where most of the positives end as the story quickly becomes incredibly predictable and ultimately offers nothing new to the genre aside from the stone age setting. It's disappointing since it seemed like given the setting the story could've gone a number of different ways that would've been far more interesting, but they simply chose the easiest and most cliched route to tell their story.

The film mostly consists of the group traveling aimlessly during the day and fearing for their lives at night. You'd think these early humans would've been better at surviving, but apparently not these guys. There's also not a lot of action and there are only minor bits of gore here and there (which were luckily all practical) and the characters were unlikable and useless apart from maybe two from the tribe.

Honestly, I’m mostly just disappointed with the direction it took than anything, because despite all the negatives, I was never bored and still enjoyed the movie to a certain extent. It’s a competent film and a decent watch overall and honestly still better than what we normally get in the genre nowadays.