Post by Mr.HoRrOr on Aug 13, 2011 16:28:56 GMT -5
Plot:Tells the tale of Petronella (a Scottish/Romany girl) and Fergal (her mysterious Irish traveller boyfriend). As their doomed relationship plays out, a Beast stalks the estate, killing locals, working its way towards our protagonists. Meanwhile Cathal and Liam, two mysterious travellers from Ireland use ritual and magic on a blood hunt. Mary, Fergal's mother performs ritual and magic of her own. As Cathal comes face to face with Mary in a vicious finale we know one thing: the Beast must die.
Cast:
James Cosmo
James Nesbitt
Ian Whyte
Karen Gillan
Kate Dickie
Ciaran McMenamin
Christine Tremarco
Christopher Downie
Therese Bradley
Josh Whitelaw
Hanna Stanbridge
Niall Bruton
Claire Catterson
Daniel Porter
Andrew Martin
Sean McCarthy
My Thoughts:Gets about half way.
Review:Colm McCarthy's "Outcast", is a creature feature that gets about half way to it's destination. Yet, it really is too ambitious for the cultures and traditions it's steeped in. The movie follows Petrenella and Fergal. Petrenella is Scottish and Fergal is Irish. Their relationship seems doomed to fail, as it always seems to be surrounded by doubt, and circled by Fergal's over-protective mother, who is also a ritual practitioner.
Things get even more complicated when two mysterious men roll into town. Like Fergal's mother, they're also practicioner's of the "arts". They seem to share a connection with Fergal's mother. But in between all three, lies a hideous beast which is lurking the area and killing off certain residents. The movie lets us try and enjoy the mystery of what is happening here exactly. What connection does this monster have with Fergal's mother?
And these two guys who just happened into town? But the film only gets it's own formula half right. For starters, it explains very little about the magic being used by the characters. Or their ultimate purpose within the dynamics of the story. Everyone here is shady, mysterious, dark, and really grey-area'ish. Although the movie eventually does manage to sort out it's villains from it's good guys and quasi-villains, much later in it's run. This process simply takes too long, and should've been better handled.
Not to mention, the director assumes everyone who sees this film will be Irish or Scottish. A little backstory on the customs of ritual magic of those two ethnic groups would've been a nice thing. I assumed the director snagged a few ideas about the films occult story arc from movies like "Halloween 3" and "Halloween 6", which kind of delved into celtic magic, rituals, and all of that sort. But this movie just does things way too vague. Without offering up atleast a few minutes of dialogue to explain the magic itself and it's purpose.
Instead, we get people doing all kinds of crazy hoodoo to outwit and head off the other person. And although there is one cool scene where Fergal's mother uses magic on a rent collector woman, the movie overall never really has any ultra cool moments until around very late in act 3. As for the monster, well...we don't see much of he/she/it either. Hell, it hardly even kills anyone in the movie. Except for maybe 2 people. And their deaths aren't bloody, graphic, or gory. In fact, they're quick and shrouded in bad camera work. That pretty much kills this film being a monster movie.
It's a horror movie definitely, but the director obviously felt revealing too much of the monster would be a bad idea. And instead, filling much of the films screen time with vague references to Irish magic and mysterious dialogue amongst the films major players would be the best course of action. I beg to differ. Not saying that I wanted this movie to be a U.S. import, with annoying teenagers, sex and drinking, and idiots who die because they don't know when to run.
But at the same time, I felt "Outcast" had too much on it's proverbial plate...and didn't know where or how to properly distribute everything. So by the time it reached it's conclusion, it would be a well-rounded and complete genre picture. The movie moves too much in shadow and mystery. And while the dark, gloomy, and ominous urban settings of the film were perfectly set for a bloody creature feature, it hardly as if ever delivered. However...that doesn't make the movie hateable. Boring, uninteresting, or a complete and total waste of time.
It tells a decent enough story. The acting isn't much to speak of, but the films characters and their constantly shifting moral relativism always manages to cast and intriguing shadow over the movie. And there are a lot of nice little areas of the movie that keep you interested. But those are mostly thanks to the films drama elements. Which thrive because Fergal, a quiet and shy type. And Petronella...really seem like a good couple who serve a cetain purpose for one another. But in the end, the movie fails to bring the other half of the equation to fruition.
It has it's character-drama elements all straightened out. And it's story elements set well enough, but when it comes to being scary, and delivering monster carnage, mayhem, and some gruesome kills. It doesn't even make the grade. There are moments of blood and gore in the picture of course, just for a monster movie...it doesn't have them in enoguh of an abundance. Thus making the synopsis quite misleading. "Outcast" however I would say is still despite it's failures, worth seeing once. It atleast tries something new and different as a horror movie. And that certainly counts for something. Even if it comes to play with an imperfect formula.
Positives:The backdrop to all of what occurs in the movie is nicely implemented. And fits the overall tone of the film. Fergal and Petronella have some nice on screen chemistry as characters. The story is also interesting, and the characters...most of them never proving to be good fully or evil fully until at the very end, was a nice change of pace.
Negatives:Not enough monster moments or monster shreddings. In a monster movie, the monster can't have a body count below 5 and be a successful on-screen beast.
Overall:Two stars out of four.