Outcast

Outcast is a creepy, unsettling treat—and one of the strongest TV debuts of the year.

Terrifying and transfixing, Outcast is a horror fan's dream come true, packed with chills and thrills that only serve to accentuate the surprising potency of its dramatic vision.

Outcast is beautifully composed cinematically, with a conveniently nearby woods providing an extra layer of creepiness. By the end of the initial four episodes, a spellbinding hook has been set, with the mythology enticingly unfolding amid week-to-week new vistas in exorcism.

When more and more possessions begin to pop up in Rome, a series of events that Kyle believes is directly related to him, he is partnered with a priest, Reverend Anderson (Philip Glenister), and the series becomes an equally fascinating contemplation of the basic usage and worth of religion.

Fugit is great as Kyle, the character around whom Outcast pivots. You've got to believe this guy is real to buy into the series, and the Utah native delivers a performance that makes the series work.

Fugit depicts Barnes with the scraggly desperation of a starving, wounded animal. With his poignant portrayal securely holding each hour’s center, Outcast quickly mutates from a creepfest into a tragedy about doubt, coping and human frailty.

The cast and the emotional back story in Outcast are compelling, and so is the growing sense that Kirkman is using his tale of demonic possession--based on his own “Outcast” comic book series--as a broad allegory of domestic abuse. Behind the predictable trash-talking demon with beady eyes, there’s an interesting drama about facing what haunts you.

Outcast is a Cinemax drama about possession, sacrifice, cruelty and Jesus. In other words, it’s not your typical summer show, but it’s one you really shouldn’t miss.

The show is mostly a slow-burn look at Kyle as he tries to make sense of all the damage that seems to follow--and grow--around him. He may yet turn to prayer.

The acting doesn’t carry the story as much as its mysterious long-term goals (outside of layered portrayals from Wrenn Schmidt and David Denman, great individually and as a couple), but therein lies the most promising aspect of Outcast.

It isn't for everyone, but Outcast is likely to satisfy fans of horror done well.

The show’s structure is smart in many ways, giving us more immediate satisfaction as individual stories play out, while piling on layers of mystery about many of the characters. Kirkman does it so well that we almost miss the fact that several subplots are pretty timeworn.

Cliches abound, but Fugit's intriguing soulfulness compels you to watch. [3 June 2016, p.101]

In its second and third episodes, the material periodically drags to a crawl while laying the bedrock foundation for forthcoming action. And its habit of leaving key details and interpersonal dynamics vague borders on irritating. Though it resumes building momentum by the end of its fourth chapter, there’s a sense that the show requires somewhat more vigorous storytelling.

Although it's too early to tell if Outcast can sustain itself, this Cinemax horror series from The Walking Dead creator Robert Kirkman at least has the right idea.

While Outcast tells of an exorcist learning to harness his powers, Preacher does something far more intriguing, providing Jesse with a skill set that teeters between divine and demonic.

For all its grisly nature, an involvingly sinister tale.

This is the sort of unrelenting frightfest that finds menace in objects as ordinary as a Hummel figurine. Before long, you may cringe whenever anyone goes to open a closet or pantry door. [6-19 Jun 2016, p.19]

The show is beautifully shot and well-directed, and the premiere’s opening scene with Jacob is truly jolting. But the series suffers from the context surrounding it: The netherworld is all over TV, in A&E’s just-canceled Damien, on Fox’s Lucifer, and the fall-TV remake of The Exorcist. As a result, Outcast feels overly familiar, something it shakes only in a subplot involving Kyle’s sister, played very well by Wrenn Schmidt (Boardwalk Empire), who has a haunted past of her own.

Despite good performances, there are plenty of ways that the dialogue and pacing of Outcast still feel too much like a comic book. The four episodes provided to critics don’t indicate just how complex the overall plot is or how expertly the story will treat matters of faith.

The hour is stylishly directed by Adam Wingard (V/H/S). But there just isn’t much here that we--or at least I--haven’t seen before.

Outcast tries to maintain a sense of tension from episode to episode (only the first four have been made available to critics) but too many sags in the storytelling allow doubt to creep in.

Only three episodes were available for viewing. Outcast is, at best, serviceable for a late Friday night horror tale, but I’m not anxious to hang around.

Kyle gives Outcast dimension, but Anderson makes it vital. Unfortunately, the crowded script slows them down. Too often, Outcast, like it’s demons, depends on the terrifying seductions of possession to hold our attention.

midst Kirkman's banality-of-evil fixation is the potential for very real banality, and after four episodes sent to critics, Outcast has already fallen frequent victim to the wheel-spinning and superficial characters that have often bogged down lesser moments of The Walking Dead and nearly every moment of Fear the Walking Dead. Directed with some flair by Adam Wingard (The Guest), the Outcast pilot has some promise, but subsequent episodes fail to maintain that momentum.

The problem for this series, besides making Kyle someone we care enough about to keep watching, will be finding original ways to cast out demons. By the end of the premiere, we’ve already had an “Exorcist” scene, and as the show goes along, Anderson does the cross-and-scripture thing we’ve seen a zillion times.