Full of atmosphere and little else, Out of Darkness offers effective indie horror filmmaking for a good 20-plus minutes before losing its way.

The feature directorial debut from Andrew Cumming centers on a misfit group of six Palaeolithic travelers escaping untold terrors for new hope in a new land, a mission captured through confident camerawork and augmented by mist-filled surroundings and rugged forest scenery.

While initial attacks from an unseen entity cast doubt in characters’ and viewers’ minds alike regarding the nature of the mysterious predator(s), the bubble soon bursts in spectacular fashion, echoing last year’s laughably bad Adam Driver dinosaur experiment 65 and tossing in some bizarre moralizing for good measure.

Between this and the similarly downward sloping I.S.S., indie distributor Bleecker Street’s year is off to a rough start. Guess we’re officially back to January and February being true dumping grounds for the movie business.

Grade: C-minus. Rated R. Now playing at Carolina Cinemark and Regal Biltmore Grande

(Photo: Bleecker Street)