Outcast is a scary and interesting take on demon possession.
Outcast offers up the kind of scares that Damien should have had. Eye covering, goosebump-inducing scenes that are just shy of causing terror. It’s not “The Exorcist” but it comes close. The show is set in a small town, just like Cinemax likes it, where a young boy has been possessed.
The opening scene focuses on a young boy staring at a bug on his wall. Suddenly, he bashes his forehead into the wall several times killing the bug. Then he eats it. I won’t be forgetting that opening scene for some time. It’s disgusting!
This boy’s possession isn’t the first time this has happened in this town. Kyle Barnes’ mother was also possessed about a decade ago. Unfortunately, her son bared the brunt of her rage. As a grown up, Kyle is exactly what you would expect him to be, and the director, Adam Wingard, does a great job of showing us and not telling us about Kyle’s mental. The camera focuses on the disarray of the house, from the lopsided hanging curtains to the dirty floor as Kyle walks from his bedroom through the house. I guess nobody told Kyle that cleanliness was next to Godliness. But when you’ve lived with a demon most of your childhood, I guess such lessons fall by the wayside. As Kyle sits at the kitchen table to eat, all the while ignoring his sister who is persistently knocking on the front door, we get a flashback of how brutal living with his possessed mother was.
Outcast paints Kyle as an anti-hero who has no idea why one particular demon follows him wherever he goes. The demon jumped from his mother, later into his wife, and now the young boy in town. But it is only when Kyle meets the boy and speaks to the demon that he understands that it is the same one. It is Kyle who eventually saves the boy, by accident, using his blood. It is at this moment that he realizes he is much more than just the tormented, he could actually be a saviour.
If you are a fan who of the horror genre, then Outcast is definitely the series to watch. The pilot answered just enough questions to create anticipation for the second episode. However, seeing as the show is supposed to premiere on June 3rd, we will have to wait for at least two weeks before we see the second episode. (The pilot episode was leaked online yesterday.)
