Outcasts, The: Deluxe Limited Edition (Blu-ray Review)
- Review Date: Dec 17, 2024
- Format: Blu-ray Disc
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Director
Robert Wynne-SimmonsRelease Date(s)
1982 (March 11, 2025)Studio(s)
Tolmyax Company (Deaf Crocodile Films)- Film/Program Grade: B
- Video Grade: B-
- Audio Grade: B-
- Extras Grade: A-
Review
The Outcasts is a neglected and nearly forgotten example of regional filmmaking from a nation not particularly noted for its film scene: Ireland. While the Emerald Isle has proven to be fertile ground for inspiring the imaginations of filmmakers from across the world, it’s less noted for its own cinematic output. That began to change in 1981 with the formation of the first Irish Film Board, which partially subsidized the production of The Outcasts in 1982. Ironically enough, director Robert Wynne-Simmons was actually British, but he had been living and working in Ireland for some time, and the story that he crafted was steeped in Irish folklore (although it’s still a work of his own imagination). The project also ended up being fully funded thanks to assistance from Channel 4 in the U.K., but despite the presence of a British filmmaker working with the help of British money, it’s still an Irish film through and through.
The Outcasts is set in the early nineteenth century, shortly before the advent of the Great Famine in 1845. As the story opens, Irish landowner Hugh O’Donnell (Don Foley) is meeting with matchmaker Myles Keenan (Cyril Cusack) in order to arrange the marriage of his pregnant daughter Janey (Bairbre Ní Chaoimh) to Eamon Farrell (Máirtín Jaimsie), son of fellow landowner Conor Farrell (Tom Jordan). The match is of critical importance to Hugh since his eldest daughter Breda (Brenda Scallon) is already widowed and working to support his homestead, while his youngest daughter Maura (Mary Ryan) isn’t considered to be a prize catch. That’s because she’s been rejected by the rest of the community due to the fact that she’s so different than everyone else. Her peers and even her own sisters mock and torment her relentlessly. Yet Maura is the only one who is truly open to the wonders that surround them, and while they use folk tales about the otherworldly wandering fiddler Scarf Micheal (Mick Lally) merely as a way to frighten the vulnerable, Maura can actually see him and interact with him. Unfortunately, her preternatural abilities paint a target on her head the same way that they did for Scarf Michael, who also suffered at the hands of those who rejected him—and Maura may (or may not) end up sharing the same fate.
Robert Wynne-Simmons had helped to establish the folk horror genre with his screenplay for Blood on Satan’s Claw in 1971, but in making his directorial debut with The Outcasts, he ended up at an unusual intersection between folk horror and regional filmmaking. Much of the folk horror genre is seen from the perspective of the visitors, with the native belief systems being Othered as a source of horror. That’s even true of adjuncts to folk horror like the cannibal subgenre, which treats native practices as being inherently horrific. Yet that’s not the case with The Outcasts, which foregrounds the world of Irish myth and treats those who reject it as being the real threat. Scarf Michael’s mischievous antics are relatively benign, and while he became what he is due to the fact that he was also persecuted by those around him, he’s not really an avenging angel. Unfortunately, that leaves room for the cycle to repeat itself with Maura.
That’s also what separates The Outcasts from other examples of folk horror such as Blood on Satan’s Claw, The Wicker Man, and even modern variants like Midsommar. At its heart, The Outcasts is a film about the Other seen from the point of view of the Other. Maura has suffered solely for the crime of being different, and she finds acceptance with Scarf Michael because he’s a fellow outsider compared to what society accepts as being “normal.” Maura ends up accepting Scarf Michael and the world of difference instead, and as a result, he warns her that she can never go back. That means that she’s now more distanced from her previous life than she ever was before—both literally and figuratively. While there’s plenty of deliberate ambiguity in The Outcasts, Scarf Michael’s words make it pretty clear what has happened to Maura as a result of her embracing her own Otherness. It’s a hard world for those who are different.
Yet while Maura’s fate may be less ambiguous than it appears to be at first glance, that’s also what makes The Outcasts such a genuinely open text. The exact same cycles have repeated all throughout human history, so this regional Irish folk horror film can be read metaphorically to represent what many Others have experienced in the past and will continue to experience going forward. The Outcasts may be set in a distant time and place, but in that respect, it’s a tale that’s truly timeless.
Cinematographer Seamus Corcoran shot The Outcasts on 16mm film using spherical lenses, for a native aspect ratio of 1.37:1. That was cropped to 1.66:1 when the film was blown up to 35mm for its theatrical release. The source element for this version was a 35mm color reversal intermediate, which was scanned in at 4K resolution with digital cleanup performed in 2K. The whole project was produced under the supervision of the Irish Film Institute. Given the fact that it’s a later generation dupe element and an optical blowup to boot, expectations need to be tempered. The image is soft and lacking in detail, with heavy grain throughout (and the grain gets much worse in low-light shots). There’s not much depth present to the darker portions of the frame, with detail sometimes completely washed out. The colors are generally somewhat muted, but the flesh tones always look natural, and there’s some richness to the greens in the abundant foliage on display. It’s not exactly demo material, but given what the IFI had to work with, everything looks as good as could possibly be expected.
Audio is offered in English 1.0 mono LPCM, with optional English SDH subtitles. This audio was restored from the 35mm optical soundtrack by Avatar Audio Post Production. While noise and other analogue artifacts are kept to a minimum, there is a bit of distortion remaining in during the peak levels in Steve Cooney’s score. Otherwise, the dialogue is clear—it appears to have been post-synced, so that probably helps the clarity even if it doesn’t always integrate perfectly into the soundstage.
The Deaf Crocodile Deluxe Limited Edition Blu-ray release of The Outcasts includes a 60-page booklet featuring essays by Paul Duane and Walter Chaw. Everything comes housed in a rigid slipcase featuring artwork by Andie Ferrari. There’s also a card tucked inside with a QR code that can be scanned in order to access transcribed versions of the bonus content. Note that Deaf Crocodile is also offering a standard edition that omits the booklet and the slipcase, although it still includes the QR code. A wide release version is also coming in 2025. The following extras are included, all of them in HD:
- Interview with Robert Wynne-Simmons (83:11)
- Interview with Steve Cooney (48:14)
- Visual Essay by Rod Stoneman (28:40)
- The Judgement of Albion: Prophecies of William Blake (26:20)
- Early 8mm Films:
- The Greatest All-Star Advertial of All Time (1:27)
- Bomb Disposal (4:29)
- L’Eredita di Diavolo (14:24)
- The Scrolls (25:19)
Deaf Crocodile’s Dennis Bartok moderates the interview with Robert Wynne-Simmons, and as an explanatory title points out, there were issues with the microphone that Wynne-Simmons used and he’s a bit difficult to understand at times (this is one case where some subtitles would have really helped). They open by discussing his upbringing and his influences before moving on to his career and film work like The Outcasts—and that career includes quite a bit, because as Bartok notes, he was prolific and creative from a very young age. Needless to say, that means this is a wide-ranging conversation, but it’s also an invaluable portrait of a life well-lived. They do cover his experiences writing the screenplay for Blood on Satan’s Claw as well as the fascinating history surrounding the making of The Outcasts.
Bartok returns to moderate the interview with composer Steve Cooney, who appears to be sitting in his home studio. They also cover some biographical information (including Cooney’s work with artists like The Chieftains and Clannad) before hitting on his work scoring The Outcasts. Cooney pulls out his guitar to perform some examples of cues from the film, explaining the modes and scales that he used, which helps to elevate this above the standard static interview session.
The Visual Essay by Rod Stoneman features the former chief executive of the Irish Film Board providing some historical context about the production of The Outcasts and its cultural impact. It helped to establish the first Irish Film Board, although that one that was later cut out of the budget before finally being reconstituted a decade later under Stoneman’s guidance. He notes that The Outcasts is somewhat paradoxical in that it gave birth to the modern Irish film movement and yet it was directed by a British director who had been living and working in the country. Stoneman also explores the themes of The Outcasts, both in terms of its use of folklore and its exploration of class and land ownership, and declares it to be a polysemic text with multiple potential meanings.
The rest of the extras consist of a variety of different short films directed by Robert Wynne-Simmons. The Judgement of Albion: Prophecies of William Blake (1968) contrasts the poetry and artwork of Blake with views of modern-day London society. Anthony Quayle, Donald Sinden, Nigel Andrews, Gill Wilkinson, Peter Bingemann, and a chorus provide voiceover readings from Blake, while Wynne-Simmons’ camera roams London, showing ways in which Blake’s words appear to have been prophetic. The Greatest All-Star Advertial of All Time (1963) is a mock cigarette advertisement that manages to squeeze Michael Redgrave, Peter O’Toole, Charlton Heston, John Barratt, Malcolm Nock, and Brian Rix into less than 90 seconds. Bomb Disposal (1963) revolves around a young lad trying to get rid of a bomb that keeps being returned to him (in one case, by none other than Sammy Davis, Jr.) L’Eredita di Diavolo (1962) features Nigel Andrews, Donald Easton, David Hare, and Richard Taylor in a ghost story set in a mansion that was once owned by Mary Shelley. Finally, The Scrolls (1964) features Michael Baldwin, Carolyn Lloyd, and others in Wynne-Simmons’ absurdist take on a bureaucratic autocracy that foreshadowed the later television series The Prisoner.
As Craig Rogers notes in the accompanying booklet, all of the early 8mm shorts were thought lost until they were recently rediscovered by Wynne-Simmons. The versions presented here are based on 2K scans of these surviving elements, and needless to say, they weren’t in the best of shape. Yet the results are still perfectly watchable, and they clearly demonstrate the creativity that Wynne-Simmons was able to display using the most primitive of equipment.
The extras breakdown on Deaf Crocodile’s website mentions a commentary by Rod Stoneman, but something must have happened during the production process because it isn’t included here (and the actual packaging doesn’t mention it, either). The British Film Institute also offers their own Region B release of The Outcasts featuring the same restoration but a completely different slate of extras: a commentary by Dr. Diane A Rodgers; a different (and much briefer) interview with Robert Wynne-Simmons; a different early 8mm called The Fugitive; a stills gallery; and the animated short film The Wanderings of Ulick Joyce. While I don’t have that disc in order to do a fair comparison between the two, Deaf Crocodile appears to have the clear edge in the form of a broader slate of extras, and their packaging easily trumps the BFI version. Plus, it’s Region A friendly (and do note that Deaf Crocodile’s discs are actually Region A locked, so it’s not a two-way street for those who live on the other side of the pond). It’s another great release from a company that’s doing a great job of bringing neglected regional filmmaking and animation to North American audiences.
- Stephen Bjork
(You can follow Stephen on social media at these links: Twitter, Facebook, and Letterboxd).