Outside, 2024

  Francis attempts to keep his family safe from the Zombie apocalypse in a rural Philippine town by returning to his childhood home. As he, his wife and two young sons shelter in the remote farm house, some unresolved childhood traumas resurface, and Francis starts to develop some definite 'Jack Torrance’ tendencies.

    As Francis’ obsession with keeping his family ‘safe’ grows, he boards up the old homestead and keeps everyone inside, despite his wife and sons' desire to travel north, to reported safety. Francis sees ulterior motives in their wanting to leave and even exaggerates the frequency and ferocity of the ever-lessening zombie attacks as a way to emotionally manipulate the young and frightened family.

Jack’s, I mean, Francis’, (sorry,) descent into madness is the real antagonist here. The Zombies are more of a justification for his actions. I mean, any external threat could have sufficed - Aliens, Nazis, wild animals. But Zombies were the chosen catalyst, and for that, we all win.

Those “dead ones,” although not exactly athletic, are still no slowpokes. One needs to hustle to stay ahead. But still require the head shot to dispatch, and transmit the zombism through bites. These Zs also exhibit a different and unusual habit: they repeat the word or phrase that they uttered most or last in life. The uttering of these rote vocalizations, devoid of meaning, adds a bit of dimension and individuality to the undead, and reminds us that they were once humans. It’s also creepy as hell.

Acting was fine - convincing and realistic, (amongst both living and deceased,) and special effects were decent, too. The storyline got a little muddled here and there, with some unnecessary family issues arising. Thusly, Outside’s pacing was a bit slow, I’m sure in attempts to create atmosphere, and a sense of claustrophobia. Ringing in at 2 hours and 22 minutes, however, I would have preferred a lot more walking dead encounters. But as I mentioned, Dad’s emotional deterioration was the main threat here, and well, these things take time.

So, although more of a ‘psychological thriller’ than a straight out ‘zombie horror,’ when rated with my Zombie movie Rubric, Outside scored itself a 2.33 points out of a possible 4.0. The lion’s share of points going to the Zombies, with the pacing and runtime easily costing it the most. 2.33 is still an above average score for a Z-flick. This earns it a recommendation, but one with a caveat: Outside is a time commitment. But even still, it’s a nice watch, and a decent entry into the genre!

And of course, the YouTube trailer to convince you, one way or the other!  OUTSIDE.