The Outcasts

One of the first ever Irish feature films and one of earliest examples of “folk horror”, The Outcasts (1982) draws on Irish mythology and folktales to eerie effect. It’s a magical realist story set in rural, pre-Famine Ireland, the early 19th century. Maura (Mary Ryan) is one of three sisters living in a thatched cottage with overbearing father, Hugh. The family is already on the bottom rung of the village’s social ladder, but Maura — simple, soft-spoken, otherworldly — is the object of derision and pity. When the village is hit by blight, her rumoured dalliance with the mythical “Scarf Michael” is assumed to be to blame.

Played with teasing ambivalence by Mick Lally, Scarf Michael is a fascinating creature: a magical fiddler who seems to cross between the mortal and the spirit worlds. He’s as much of an outcast as Maura, but has adapted to make mischief for the superstitious but often oblivious and cruel country folk. Still, there’s an air of melancholy about his exile from the world of flesh and blood. This is a more subtle fantasy film, closer to something like Jean Cocteau’s La Belle et la bete than most contemporary shockers, but like others in this series it also points to religion, hypocrisy around sex and the suppression of female sexuality as root causes of violence.

After the screening, we will have a panel discussion on Irish horror, the dark power of folklore, tradition and disruption featuring Professor Sabina Magliocco (folklore and witchcraft); Assistant Professor Tim Frandy (folklore, Northern Europe), and Professor Emeritus Brian McIlroy (Canadian and Irish cinema).

The great lost classic of Irish cinema.

Paul Duane, Sight & Sound

A lyrical, evocative and genuinely ambitious work.

Bernice M Murphy, Horrorhomeroom.com

Writer/director Robert Wynne Simmons combines horror, comedy, tragedy and supernatural beauty to produce an intelligent and visually stunning directorial debut.

Irish Film Institute

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