Outcast (2016- ) Television Review (Pilot)

The brand new series from Robert Kirkman (The Walking Dead) is yet another comic book adaptation called Outcast, which is also written by Kirkman himself. Only this time, instead of zombies, Kirkman tackles exorcism and possession. The pilot, which premiered on Friday, June 3rd, is both intriguing and creepy.

The show centers on Kyle Barnes (Patrick Fugit), whom we soon find out is not liked by many in the town and mostly keeps to himself. Sporadically, we find out some things about him throughout the pilot (that I won't go into so as not to spoil anything) that causes our feelings about the protagonist to change several times throughout the episode. He ends up helping a priest perform an exorcism on a boy possessed by a demon.

The exorcism scenes are creepy and well done, although at times a bit stereotypical. The possessed boy pukes and does a lot of demonic yelling like we've seen many times before. What makes the show intriguing, however, is the fact that the demon seems to know Kyle. The question of what happens to the demonic being after it leaves its host during the exorcism, and why it is so attracted to Kyle seems a likely hook for the series.

The way the main character is portrayed and the questions we have about him throughout the pilot and beyond are certainly the most interesting part of the series. Although not as strong as the pilot of The Walking Dead, Outcast is a solid horror series and it certainly has a lot of potential to go deeper into possession than audiences have experienced in the past. B