REVIEW: Outside – Zombies, Trauma Dumping and Rural Terror
Here’s my Outside review which is directed by Carlo Ledesma and stars Beauty Gonzalez and Sid Lucero. It streams October 17 on Netflix!
Touted as the first Filipino zombie movie (which isn’t, trust me), Outside plays on several levels of fear which makes it an excellent horror film for this year. Outside tells the story of a family of four as they try to survive in a zombie apocalypse while dealing with their issues and hangups particularly the dad, Francis, played by Sid Lucero.
The movie has a lot of potential for me. It developed characters and didn’t tell us what happened. Hell we barely figured out that big twist about the kids. Had we watched it in the big screen we would have probably guessed. It takes the time to whet our appetites to see what happened, it took so much to established how trapped the family is, it took the time to show how boring and depressing their new life is which I can appreciate. The quiet and stillness of rural living makes this film a little more creepier than what I expected. Honestly I was waiting for a hack and slash segment with these four but that did not happen. I wanted at least a scene where this family have barricaded themselves inside their little house and they have become surrounded by hordes of the undead.
But that did not happen and they pivoted in a different direction.
Levels and Levels of terror
Outside now streaming on Netflix
While it’s true that’s a zombie movie, it’s not just a zombie movie. But its scary and disturbing on multiple levels. As a parent, it plays on your fears for your child and your incapacity to protect them and save them.
It’s the terror as an individual to be stuck in one place for a long period of time while being in a bleak situation. This one’s pretty fresh considering we just came out of a lockdown and a pandemic so the wounds are pretty fresh. Then add in a toxic situation where you’re stuck with a person you can’t stand or someone you have ongoing conflict with.
It’s a disturbing to think of how Filipinos could deal with a zombie apocalypse or a zombie infection. If the world will never be ready for that, the Filipinos and the Philippines are at a bigger handicap.
Make Up and design
outside – Netflix
Contrary to what people say online about not really having zombies, there really are zombies in the movie. However, they don’t show up that much so it could be they really are doing a Gareth Edwards – Godzilla and saving all those gorgeous money shots or its super costly. I’d go for the former. The costume and makeup effects are pretty neat and the addition of these little nuances of the zombies actually repeating the last words they uttered before succumbing to the infection makes for a nice dash of scare and creep.
Again, because there weren’t enough moments with zombies, we didn’t get enough time to marvel at the makeup and visual work they’ve done for the film. As it stands, I’d say the zombies were OK.
Excellent Cameos
To make the film more memorable, we got some great actors to make quick appearances including James Blanco, Enchong Dee and Joel Torre. Amongst the three actors, maestro Joel Torre is the one that left a lasting impact to the audience and the characters namely Francis.
Overselling or Wrong direction?
One of the things that you need to understand when you see this slow burn of a movie is that the zombies aren’t really the main focus of the film. Rather it’s the family that’s stuck inside their house filled with trauma and their growing resentments and past issues. From a marketing standpoint, the zombie’s had a rather weaker reason to be there and that they were simply used as a means to get our characters from where they are to where they need to be at the start of the film. They also did serve a purpose of making the family realize how bad the situation is for them so every move they need to do is cold and calculated.
But having the zombies and then not giving them enough time is something wrong. We were promised a zombie survival film set in the rural areas in the North so why are we getting in that? As a friend pointed out to me, if there weren’t zombies would you have sincerely watched the movie? That’s the same gamble Netflix took when they streamed this (I am not sure if they co-produced this though) so that’s that. Ballsy move, generated a huge amount of interest and that means more eyeballs. The best to understand what happened here is when they released Blade Runner 2049 in local cinemas and people weren’t happy with how the film panned out and I knew instantly that it was touted as an action movie but there was barely any real solid action sequences here that involves shooting down or using laser blades.
More Psychological than Horror
Took me awhile to finish writing this review because I wanted to incorporate something I keep on reading in reviews and comments on social media about the film. The primary one here is that its less of a zombie film and more of a thriller.
Verdict
Going through the viewer reaction and other film reviewers, it looks like Outside is a film that you either love or hate. I liked the film but we have to admit that it really does suffer from a long run time.
