Outside Movie Review: Horrifyingly Enjoyable

In Netflix’s psychological horror film Outside, a family of four escapes to the patriarch’s secluded family farmhouse in order to get some semblance of normalcy back amid a zombie outbreak that has only left devastation in its wake. However, amid growing tensions from the situation outside, there’s also a multitude of tensions growing inside the house as Francis starts to lose his sanity amid the psychological and emotional struggles that the family faces.

The film has a runtime of 142 minutes.

Outside Movie Review

Calling Outside, the first zombie horror film from the Philippines on Netflix, a zombie film would probably be unfair. The film, a tense and dreary drama that likes to play mind games with you, gives us a horror that is a bit different from the traditional ones that we have come to watch on the platform frequently, leaving us more afraid of Sid Lucero’s Francis than the mindless attackers outside who dream of eating your flesh.

From the moment the film starts, you can quite make out that all is not well between couple Francis and Iris, whose slow-burn marital issues spark their sons Josh and Lucas to be quite on edge. The moment they reach his ancestral farmhouse in the middle of nowhere, however, is when things slowly start to get more and more uncomfortable. That’s the thing about this film – it’s so darn uncomfortable. You aren’t afraid of what the zombies might do but can’t help but feel that Francis might not be all there.

Along with the brutality of Francis’s mental health declining, we see a backstory of why he is the way that he is. Through very few flashbacks, it is made evident that he was mistreated by his father, so much so that any sort of challenge to his decisions makes him revert back to his childhood days. These subtle showcases of Francis’s vulnerability and inability to let his family fall apart make him a complete character who is desperate and brutal but with reason. The harrowing reality of his surroundings doesn’t give him much of an opportunity to have a normal, loving family but he can’t help but try his hardest, regardless of whom it may hurt in the process.

The control he tries to exert over his family also results in a thoroughly emotional watch, tying the different points of the family unit together. One of the merits of the film is that regardless of the zombie outbreak, the film is still chilling. The toll unstable and unhappy parental figures can have on children and how it’s important to break the cycle of abuse is ever relevant which helps the film to give us something to be afraid of and feel some sort of sympathy for as well. Whether it be Iris or the children, everyone suffers because Francis hasn’t come to terms with his trauma or his brother’s preferential treatment and these moments play into the story so well that it gives you chills.

That being said, I am not sure why the film needed to be set against the backdrop of a zombie apocalypse. Sure, it heightens the fear and gives a reason as to why the family can’t leave their house but I feel like the film could’ve made a bigger impact without it. Plus, at 142 minutes, the film is too long. Sure, it packs the runtime with enough interesting and harrowing situations that will keep you engaged, but you do feel the weight of it, more so because the film takes forever to set the stage before things start going to hell.

That being said, Netflix’s Outside is acted extremely well, especially by Sid Lucero, who brings forth Francis’s declining mental health to the forefront with chilling accuracy. You can’t help but feel goosebumps whenever he is around, especially in the second half of the film. Young actors Marco Masa and Aiden Tyler Patdu are fantastic as well and bring an innocence to the story that feels quite scary when you think about it all. Lastly, Beauty Gonzales is great as well – it is clear that she is hiding more than she is letting on and although nothing is ever explicitly said, her thoughts and her past indiscretions are quite clear thanks to her performance.

Final Thoughts

The zombies aren’t the scariest thing in this zombie horror film and sometimes human beings, with all of their traumas, can be oh-so dangerous and deadly. Outside is enjoyable and makes you think but its extremely long runtime does catch up after a while. However, several intriguing aspects in the film are surprisingly unique, especially for a movie set against a zombie outbreak, and regardless of the long runtime, this one’s thoroughly enjoyable.

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