The Outcasts (1982) – Film Review
Director: Robert Wynne-Simmons
Cast: Mary Ryan, Mick Lally, Don Foley
Certificate: 15
By Sarah Morgan
Love a bit of folk horror? Looking forward to Halloween? Then the latest release in the BFI’s Flipside range is sure to tickle your fancy and keep you occupied until October 31 arrives.
It certainly has great heritage within the genre – it was written and directed by Robert Wynne-Simmons, who also penned the screenplay for the masterful 1971 offering Blood on Satan’s Claw.
As with that movie, the story of The Outcasts takes place in an isolated rural community where poverty and superstition are the order of the day. This time, however, the setting is 19th-century Ireland.
“Target for bullying”
Mary Ryan plays Maura, a shy and withdrawn farm girl whose ‘otherness’ makes her a target for bullying from her peers, who suspect she may be a witch. However, she begins to come out of her shell after meeting the mysterious wanderer Scarf Michael (Mick Lally), a shaman and fiddle player who awakens Maura’s imagination and introduces her to his mystical world.
Veteran stage and screen actor Cyril Cusack also appears, delivering another in a long line of twinkly-eyed performances. No doubt he was attracted to The Outcasts because it was about to kickstart the Irish film industry (no homegrown movies had been made in the country for 50 years before it came along). Despite that fact, it remained an obscurity, largely unseen for four decades until this new Blu-ray was announced.
Although not out-and-out horror, it does contain some horrific elements and will appeal to those who love the aforementioned Blood on Satan’s Claw, as well as The Wicker Man and Witchfinder General – it shares with them a rural setting and superstitions that rage out of control among isolated villages populated by largely uneducated people.
“Irish mythology and folklore”
Wynne-Simmons, who had been working for Irish national broadcast RTE at the time, cleverly interweaves Irish mythology and folklore into his story, and claims to have also been inspired by WB Yeats’ poetry and The Book of Thel by William Blake.
The result is among the most haunting productions I’ve seen for a long time, one I will need to revisit several times to truly appreciate.
Special features to look out for include an audio commentary by folklore historian Dr Diane A Rogers, a new interview with Wynne-Simmons and The Fugitive, a short film he made in 1964 about another outsider, set against the backdrop of violence between Mods and Rockers in Brighton.
Special features
- Presented in High Definition
- Newly recorded audio commentary by folklore historian and scholar Dr Diane A Rodgers
- Writing Folk Tales (2024, 9 mins): in this newly filmed interview, Robert Wynne-Simmons revisits his debut feature
- The Fugitive (1964, 31 mins): Robert Wynne-Simmons’ first work with an outsider at its heart is a dark tale of violence, guilt and retribution shot on 8mm film against a backdrop of Mods and Rockers violence on the streets of 1960s Brighton
- The Outcasts in Pictures (2024, 15 mins): the director recalls the film’s production as he looks back through his own location photographs in this video essay
- The Wanderings of Ulick Joyce (1975, 5 mins): a would-be king, banished from his realm for unholy deeds, is doomed to wander old Ireland forever in this distinctive animated short by Gillian Lacey
- First pressing only - Illustrated booklet with a Director’s Statement, new writing on the film by the BFI’s Vic Pratt, an archive essay by Dr Diane A Rodgers and recollections of The Fugitive by Robert Wynne-Simmons; notes on the special features and credits
The Outcasts is released on Blu-ray by the BFI
