Outcast

It's difficult to know what movie-goers want sometimes. Do they want the usual product with its anodyne plot line, CGI and names you've heard of? Or do they want something different that might challenge their preconceptions of what a good movie is? Do they want to praise a film for trying to be a bit different even if not perfect or do they look for signs of weakness in anything they see, delighting in the opportunity to trash something?

Outcast has a lot of faults. The creature effects are a bit wobbly, it's slow in places and could do with tightening up, some of the acting is mediocre. And yet this does try to be different. It's horror mixed with social realism as some have already pointed out. It's visually striking and well photographed although shaky cam sometimes gets the better of it. Some of the acting is very good indeed – I was particularly impressed by the ferocity of both Kate Dickie and James Nesbitt and kudos to him for appearing in this low budget film yet not holding anything back.

The story will make you work and it will help if you have some concept of how myths and legends operate (and who doesn't, it's in our psyche). There is a resolution which makes perfect sense in the context of the story. It's not a fun movie and probably not a date movie! Outcast is a brave attempt to make something different. It has lots of faults but they are ones I am happy to forgive because of the efforts and obvious good intentions of all involved in making it.

"Outcast" looked like one of the most anonymous and modest titles that were scheduled in this year's edition of the Brussels Festival of Fantastic Films, but I'm nevertheless very glad that I went to see it, as this was one of the most imaginative & courageously ambitious stories in a long time. The film is still quite flawed and lacks steadiness, but it's most definitely a welcome chance of pace from the nowadays overload of brainless slashers and tepid remakes. Strange as it may sound, "Outcast" is a fusion between fantasy horror and social drama. And it works, too! Imagine yourself an alliance between directors Ken Loach, with his typical proletariat setting and characters, and Mike Newell how he directed "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire". The convoluted plot, courtesy of the brothers Tom and Colm McCarthy, hints at multiple themes and maintains a mysterious atmosphere throughout, but still unfolds as a coherent and surefooted horror story. Mary and her shy adolescent son Fergal carry a sinister secret with them. This secret forces them to continuously move between cities, because they're hunted down by a couple of warriors that use black magic to track them down. They end up in a lower class apartment block in Edinburgh, where the unworldly Feral promptly falls for the local foul-mouthed and feisty Petronella. Mary desperately tries to boycott the relationship, especially because she senses the hunters Cathal and Liam approaching, but the love is for real. Meanwhile, the family's aforementioned secret is spreading mayhem and terror in the grisly Edinburgh neighborhood. I know this is all very vague, but it would really be a shame to reveal too much about the widely versatile story. The script features Irish folklore elements as well as Scottish mythology, and everything wonderfully merges together with the grim and depressing setting. In fact, everything in this movie merges together well, even the hardcore gory massacres with the genuinely touching romance sub plot. The acting is great, with particularly the young Hanna Stanbridge excelling above the rest. She even makes the plebs Scottish accent sound like poetry; what a marvelous girl.

I don't tend to be a huge fan of modern day British horror, so it's refreshing to see something this smart, original and entertaining. Writer/director Colm McCarthey has crafted here a supernatural kitchen sink horror that entwines both aspects with skill, unobtrusive social comment and psychological intensity. The film follows Fergal and his mother Mary, set up in a flat on a run down estate, though mysterious hunters are after them and both Mary and Fergal have things to hide, brooding concerns that unfold during the course of the film. I've kept this summary vague because a lot of the fun here comes in watching things unfold, but let's just say that spell-casting strangeness, mythology and violent death are involved. Beyond the plot mechanics lie the real interests of the film, brought out partly in setting and characters and as strongly in the assortment of fine acting turns at hand. The film is concerned with family and culture and their tensions, characters have an assortment of backgrounds, Irish, Scottish, Polish and less defined varieties of "other". Conflicts mount, based not on easy illustrations of racism but family ties, sexual fears and adolescence, the film has even its minor characters picking through a minefield and an ever present feel that its gritty locales could erupt. Speaking of gritty locales, the cinematography of Darran Teirnan does a great job of grounding everything in recognisable reality, with palpable run-down atmosphere. The character seeth as much as the setting, Kate Dickie is most powerful as Mary, high strung, unsettling in the clammy closeness of her concerns for Fergal and convincingly, even erotically pagan during her supernatural scenes. Niall Bruton is effective as Fergal, a quiet and haunted fellow with a certain inner grace, yearning and sympathetic edge. Hanna Stanbridge stands out as an earthy and foul mouthed but irresistibly attractive fellow tenant with the hots for Fergal, good contrast to the wilder goings on, while James Nesbitt is great as a grimly determined, ambitious and shifty hunter. Outcast moves at a quick pace, though horror junkies should note that the film is as driven by drama of the more conventional kind as it is horror hi-jinks. Gore and effects are used sparingly but to good effect, with the distinct advantage of being fairly unusual in their use. The only significant problem here is some of the shaky camera work used, though once or twice it is good at conveying an impression without showing too much, it detracts from the climax where a better view of proceedings would have been much appreciated. Altogether, I thought this one rather ace, it takes a little getting into and the contrast of setting and shenanigans will undoubtedly jar for a fair few viewers, but for me pretty well everything worked great. A solid recommendation from me then, 8/10.

First off, I don't understand why some people were so critical of this film. Having watched countless terrible so called movies from the horror genre this last year, very few could hold my attention. Yes, I will agree, it started of a wee bit slow, and yes at times you didn't know who to like more, the hunters or the hunted. Personally I thought this was quite refreshing. The setting was wonderful for an ex-pat Scot like myself, it's a pity more movies aren't made in Scotland. Of course there are parallels with Let me in, but the whole gypsy/druidic slant was nice and the acting on the whole was more than adequate and a lot better than low budget American movies where recently the actors seem to be hitting all time new lows in believability or likability. I thought this film kept my interest right up to the end, the ending wasn't as predictable as people make out, as the director really did paint quite a ambiguous slant to the main protagonist (or was that protagonists?). Anyway, for all fans of Edinburgh and people who want more from a horror movie than just another slasher psycho you should come away with few disappointments. Serious thrills are few, so I might well put this more in a supernatural category rather than horror. I think the problem with recent horror is it's hard to top the excesses of Saw and few have the storytelling genius of a director like Guillermo Del Toro to eke out a superb horror without an excess of gore. To sum up, a good attempt at a Scottish LET ME IN, not incredible but compared with recent dross a must see for horror fans who are waiting in vain for another great film like The Shining.

What do you get if you cross the plot of Let The Right One In with the special effects of a budget Hulk movie, then set it all in Trainspotting territory, with a bunch of Irish Gypsy mumbo jumbo thrown in for good measure. Well, fairly obviously, you get low budget horror thriller Outcast.

Intense, witchy Mary and her teenage son Fergal (Kate Dickie and Niall Bruton) are on the run. But when they set fire to their van and accept a scummy council tenancy in a run-down scheme on the outskirts of Edinburgh, it appears that their days on the road are over. Big mistake, as mysterious, tattooed, radge hit-man Cathal (James Nesbitt) is hot on their heels, tracking them down using bizarre divining rituals involving pigeons' entrails. Well, it's hardly as if the reclusive pair are on Facebook.

But while Mary sets about weaving protective spells around their flat, Fergal is off getting to know his new neighbourhood, and in particular feisty 'teenager' Petronella (Hanna Stanbridge), who spends her days caring for her mentally disabled brother while her alcoholic mother lies sprawled on the sofa sleeping off the grog. But as a sudden, awkward and rather unlikely romance starts to blossom, Cal is closing in, having been given the go ahead by the local gypsy king or Laird (played, of course, by James Cosmo, as it is illegal to make a film in Scotland without offering him a part).

All sounds a bit strange. Well, it is, but it's also gory, gritty and weirdly compelling – although not always terribly convincing. Perhaps I just have trouble believing there's black magic taking place on my bus route. Or indeed that such cheesy, playground black magic could be so immediately effective – Rosemary's Baby this ain't.

But that aside, this is a brave film that's genuinely trying to do something different, and while the result is at times cheap and patchy, it's also like nothing you've seen before, a sort of dysfunctional Mike Leigh film for the Twilight generation.

Now where did I put my jar of blood and pile of dead birds? I'm off to cast a spell on a traffic warden…

See more of my reviews at www.elainemacintyre.net 8-)