Out of Darkness is one of the early hidden gems of the 2024 new movie slate, as the prehistoric thriller has earned plenty of strong praise from critics (it is "Certified Fresh" on Rotten Tomatoes). It is also one of the more thought-provoking entries, so we'd thought we'd help clear up any questions that you may have had on the Out of Darkness ending (warning, SPOILERS ahead; here's how to watch Out of Darkness if you haven't).
The plot of Out of Darkness centers on a group of nomads during the Stone Age (43,000 BCE, to be specific) who set about finding a new home: Adem (Chuku Modu), the leader, Geirr (Kit Young), his younger brother, Ave (Iola Evans), Adem's mate carrying his baby, Heron (Luna Mwezi), Adem's young son, Odal (Arno Lünin), an elder advisor, and Beyah (Safia Oakley-Green), a stray nomad they took in. They land on a swath of barren land, but soon find out they are not as alone as they thought. Some kind of creature lurks in the dark, tormenting them.
What is the creature? Who in the group of nomads survives? And what does the ending of Out of Darkness mean? We dig into all of that below.
What is the creature in Out of Darkness?
Adem leads the group through the barren land toward mountains where they hope to find caves where they can settle. As they travel, Adem and Geirr discover the carcass of an animal, picked clean at the bottom of a ravine. Geirr wonders if it fell off the cliff, but Adem is confident it was forced off, but by what?
As they continue to push deeper into the land, they begin to have a sense they are not alone. Those fears come true when one night Heron is taken by an unseen creature. Adem chases after his son, but is unable to track it in the night. They pick up the trail the next morning, which leads to a dense forest. Geirr and the others do not want to go in, confident Heron is dead and they could be next if they follow, but Adem charges ahead and they follow.
Adem's pursuit proves costly. When night falls he tries to attack the creature in the dark, but it sneaks up on him and kills him. The next morning, Geirr attempts to lead the group, but he fails in getting them out of the forest. Odal and Ave believe they need to make a sacrifice to the creature to appease it. They choose Beyah and knock Geirr out when he tries to protest. But Beyah is able to escape from them as they hear the creature draw near. In their fear, Odal and Ave turn on each other, injuring each other so neither can escape.
Beyah hides in the bushes as the creature comes upon Odal and Ave. It walks on two legs and has the face of an animal skull. It pulls Ave into the dark and kills Odal. Beyah decides she is not going to run any longer and is able to sneak up on the creature. While attacking it, she knocks off the animal skull, which was a mask to hide a Neanderthal, who then runs from Beyah into its caves in the mountain.
So the creatures were actually Neanderthals, the predecessors to humans. According to the Natural History Museum website, Neanderthal's existed until about 40,000 BCE and lived alongside early humans for at least a time, so the premise of the story is realistic.
What happens in the Out of Darkness ending?
Once Beyah discovers the creature is not a demon, she and the now conscious Geirr take off after it. They split up to search its caves, with Beyah being attacked but ultimately killing a Neanderthal. She then stumbles upon an area in the cave where a fire is going and finds Heron, still alive. However, another Neanderthal arrives with a weapon in hand. Beyah loses her spear but picks up a torch and attempts to defend Heron. Geirr then arrives on the scene and is attacked by the Neanderthal and killed. Beyah uses this opportunity to throw the torch onto some furs, which catch fire, and escape with Heron through a tight tunnel out of the cave.
The Neanderthal also attempts to climb out of the tunnel, but is stuck at the exit. Heron attempts to help it, calling for Beyah to assist him. Beyah instead takes a rock and smashes it over the Neanderthal's head, killing it. Heron is upset. Beyah says it was either them or the Neanderthal, but Heron says she is wrong.
He tells Beyah the Neanderthals fed him and looked after him. Upon entering the cave again, they see the Neanderthals brought Ave's body back to the cave and did it up for some kind of funeral ritual. They were not monsters, they were only trying to protect themselves from the likes of Adem, but were willing to protect and help those who needed it, like Heron and Ave.
Beyah, understanding her mistake, helps bury the Neanderthals and Ave under rocks in an area where a number of other graves are already. Heron asks what they will do now? She tells him they will "try again."
This ending definitely offers some modern parables, mainly the idea that humans' will resort to violence, hate or fear when facing something they don't understand or they see as different rather than trying to live alongside it.
There are a couple of ways to look at Beyah's final message to "try again." One is a condemnation that humans have not overcome this kind of hate and desire to eliminate those different from them despite 45,000 years passing from this story to modern day. The other offers a bit of hope: that despite our past tendencies, we still have the chance to grow beyond these base fears and find ways to live amongst each other in harmony.
Out of Darkness is currently playing exclusively in US movie theaters. It releases in the UK on February 23.
