Out of Darkness | 2024 | R | – 3.7.5

Why is “Out of Darkness” rated R? The MPAA rating has been assigned for “violence and some grisly images.” The Kids-In-Mind.com evaluation includes the beginning of a potential sexual assault, discussions of menstruation and reproduction, death by bludgeoning as well as stabbing and a possible heart attack, a scene of cannibalism, many scenes with people hearing strange sounds coming from darkness, many scenes of people searching for food and shelter, many arguments about survival, and at least 1 F-word and some name-calling. Read our parents’ guide below for details on sexual content, violence & strong language.

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Set 45,000 years ago: A small band of early humans, wander in an unfamiliar cold and wind-swept landscape trying to find a place with shelter and food. Instead, they find themselves in a dark forest apparently hunted by what they suspect must be monsters or demons. With Chuku Modu, Safia Oakley-Green, Kit Young, Iola Evans, Luna Mwezi, Arno Lüning, Rosebud Melarkey and Tyrell Mhlanga. Directed by Andrew Cumming. In an unidentified language with English subtitles. [Running Time: 1:28]

Out of Darkness SEX/NUDITY 3

 – A man puts his hand over a teen girl’s mouth startling her, touches her face, grabs her groin, and pulls her toward him while telling her, “You are what I want,” implying she’s for sex and bearing children.
► People blame each other for the disappearance of a young boy; one man blames a teen girl saying that a monster can smell her because she is menstruating.
► A teen girl seems alarmed when she sees blood on the crotch of her pants and we understand that she has started menstruation. A teen girl lowers her pants (we see part of her bare thigh) and pulls out a wad of grass with blood on it. A woman washes a teen girl’s pants from menstrual blood.

Out of Darkness VIOLENCE/GORE 7

 – A woman and a teen girl disagree with what a man plans for them and he pushes them each to the ground before throwing a spear into the darkness and charging through a dark forest alone; a young man follows him after we hear shrieks and the man calling for him and he drags him back to the others; we see that he is badly injured with his mouth and jaw dangling from his head and a gash in his chest (he is soaked in blood as he gurgles and moans) and a teen girl stabs him in the heart with a sharp stone to end his suffering.
► A man threatens a teen girl and a woman grabs her from behind, and a young man is pushed back and hits his head on a stone (he is unconscious but alive); the woman and the man carry the teen to a spot in a dark forest and place her in a rock covered in blood and remains as an offering to a demon; the teen struggles and gets free running into the dark forest as we hear noises surrounding them. A man stabs a woman in the back with a stick (we see blood on the stick) and she falls to the ground immobilized, she grabs the man by the leg and twists his leg breaking it and we see a bone protruding from the flesh; he falls to the ground and something approaches him and stands over him presumably causing him to possibly having a heart attack and die. A teen girl whistles attracting an unidentified creature to follow her; they struggle and she pulls a mask off the creature, it screeches loudly and runs away. A teen girl and a young man search for shelter and enter caves, the teen crawls through a narrow passage and something attacks her from the shadows, they struggle, her arm is broken against a rock, she is strangled and then stabs her attacker in the throat with a sharp rock (we see blood spurt) and then she stabs the attacker with a spear. A young man is struck in the head with a stone hammer; he falls to the ground with a bloody visible gash and the attacker beats him several more times, killing him (we do not see the results). A fire starts in a cave and three people scramble to get out coughing as they go; one person is stuck and calls for help but is bashed in the head with a rock by another person and falls dead (we see blood on the wound).
► People debate whether to eat a dead man and a teen girl cuts a piece of his arm off; we see her from behind as she saws the arm off (we hear squishing and crunching) and we later see a bloody stump and a piece of flesh cooking over a flame; a young man vomits when she is cutting the arm off and we see some goo. While people sit around a fire, something pulls a young boy into the darkness and he disappears; the others search for him but are unable to find him. People find a pelt that a young boy had been wearing and there is a thick substance on it, but it is not blood. A woman trips and falls into a pit filled with blood, bones and the remains of animals; she and others hear loud screeches moving toward them and they run away. A dead man’s bloody arm is shown with an insect wriggling on it. Several bodies are buried under rocks.
► A man puts his hand over a teen girl’s mouth startling her; he touches her face, grabs her groin, and pulls her toward him while telling her, “You are what I want,” implying she’s for sex and bearing children.
► People carrying spears search for food across barren and cold terrain in several scenes; they find a lot of blood on boulders in one scene and we see large tusks, blood, part of a pelt and tissue remaining from a large animal. Many scenes show people in the dark hearing noises and being startled; we do not see what is making the sounds. People sleeping around a fire hear noises in the darkness and a teen girl arms herself with a sharp stone. People are separated when they pass through thick fog and a man calls for his son in a panic when he cannot find him; the child appears unharmed later and the man reprimands him. While a group of people sits around a fire, one man steps back into the shadows and lunges out of the shadows from a different place, roaring and startling the others. Thunder rumbles and lightning flashes in a few scenes.
► People blame each other for the disappearance of a young boy; one man blames a teen girl saying that a monster can smell her because she is menstruating. People discuss conflict, struggles, starvation, and survival disagreeing about a course of action in several scenes. A woman yells at a young boy when he asks her to tell him a story and says, “I am not your mother.” A man describes people battling a violent sea and losing provisions to giant waves. A man identifies the soil to be barren and says that it is cursed. A young boy jabs a stick into stones while repeating, “Kill it.” People tell a man, “Your baby will die. We’ll all die,” and “You’ve killed us,” in a few scenes. A pregnant woman tells a teen girl that if her baby is a girl she will have to earn her place in the group; she also tells the teen that now that she has matured, and she has a purpose (to reproduce).
► A pregnant woman moans and thrashes in pain and a young boy seated near her repeats, “Kill it.” A pregnant woman has a seizure and thrashes on the ground briefly. A pregnant woman becomes increasingly weak and ill when there is no food to eat.

Out of Darkness LANGUAGE 5

 – At least 1 F-word, name-calling (evil, bloodthirsty, thugs, stupid, monster, demon, animal, insane), exclamations (stop, shut-up). | profanity glossary |

Out of Darkness SUBSTANCE USE

 – None.

Out of Darkness DISCUSSION TOPICS

 – Survival, isolation, pity, fear, starvation.

Out of Darkness MESSAGE

 – Superstition, fear and misunderstandings can turn humans into monsters.