Outcast

Initially, Outcast seems promising, dragging the viewer into an atmospheric, contrasting world of grey, high rise council blandness and blood-fuelled pagan rituals. As Mary, a woman trying to keep her son safe from James Nesbitt’s grizzled, ruthless bounty hunter Cathal, Kate Dickie, in particular, is a powerful onscreen presence. However, the strength of the performances is not enough to compensate for the fact that the story is a garbled mess, littered with holes and finishing with a twist so transparent it might be intentional. Alongside the potentially interesting, but largely unexplored, supernatural elements is some gratuitous nudity and gore, while the monster stalking the estate, vaguely ominous when hidden from view, is laughable when shown clearly. It would appear there is a good film hidden here somewhere, but writer/director Colm McCarthy’s vision seems to have been lost in the midst of entrails, muddled mythology and incomplete plot points. [Becky Bartlett]