The Outcasts

Standard Edition

THE OUTCASTS (1982, 95 min.)  “In the dark she felt the key turning in the latch and a voice spoke to her: open the door”, whispers Maura (Mary Ryan), the odd, intense daughter of an impoverished rural family in early 1800s Ireland who is accused of witchcraft after she’s seen consorting in the woods with a conjurer and fiddle player named Scarf Michael (Mick Lally).  Her neighbors and even her own family become increasingly consumed by fear and superstition, as Maura starts to experience surreal, poetic flashes of her latent powers.  A major rediscovery for fans of folklore, fantasy and folk horror, THE OUTCASTS was the first feature directed by Robert Wynne-Simmons, famed for his work as writer on the seminal British folk horror film BLOOD ON SATAN’S CLAW.  THE OUTCASTS plays like an ancient ballad somehow captured on film, filled with the sorcery of earth and woods, musicians hooded in pagan straw masks and skirts, prejudice, myth and religion – and the peat and the mud and the bone-chilling cold.  “There’s a queer sweetness in the air.  It’s an unnatural state of affairs,” as one character murmurs.  Ryan delivers an unforgettable performance as Maura with her piercing, raven-like beauty, matched by Lally as the nearly-mythic Scarf Michael.  With a superb, lyrical score by acclaimed traditional folk composer Stephen Cooney.   Recently restored by the Irish Film Institute – Film Archive, THE OUTCASTS emerges as one of the great gems of Irish cinema – released for the first time ever in the U.S. by Deaf Crocodile.

Special Features:

• New video interview with director/writer Robert Wynne-Simmons.
• New video interview with composer Steve Cooney.
• New Commentary by producer and professor Rod Stoneman, former head of Bord Scannán na hÉireann/ the Irish Film Board.
• Ultra-rare early 8mm short films by Robert Wynne-Simmons:
• “L’Eredita di Diavolo” (1962, 15 min.) – eerie ghost story shot in a derelict mansion once owned by Percy and Mary Shelley (Frankenstein).
• “The Greatest All-Star Advertial Of All Time” (1963, 2 min.) – this madcap comic short features (incredibly) Charlton Heston, Michael Redgrave and a young Peter O'Toole!
• “Bomb Disposal” (1963, 5 min.) featuring a cameo by Sammy Davis Jr.
• “The Scrolls” (1964, 25 min.) – Wynne-Simmons’ most ambitious early film has surreal overtones of 1960s series such as “The Prisoner” and “The Avengers”.
• Plus: “The Judgement Of Albion – Prophecies of William Blake” (1968, 26 min.) Wynne-Simmons’ tribute to the visionary poet and artist William Blake. (Courtesy of Robert Wynne-Simmons and the British Film Institute.)