Netflix's OUTSIDE
Did it Make You More Mad or so Glad?
By George Pontino Jr.
There's a lot of brouhaha over the issue whether the Pinoy flick OUTSIDE (now streaming globally on Netflix) is a bad Zombie movie or a good psychological thriller amidst a Zombie apocaplyse. These rants and reviews came out when people got to finally see the most anticipated Pinoy film marketed as "the first Zombie movie."
THE PREMISE
For starters, OUTSIDE is about a family trying to outrun a zombie apocalypse while they also face a more sinister threat within. Released just before Halloween (All Saint's Day), the OUTSIDE universe has become a hot topic in social media with questions like: If Outside was not marketed as a zombie film, will you still watch it? (Let's Watch This FB group) which garnered lots of replies, some are transparent and some are not sure if they'll watch it if promoted differently. The film earned fans that they defended the film's premise, that the director made it clear that it's a psychological thriller amidst the backdrop of a spread of a mysterious infection, making the dead undead. Well, watching the movie, the true horror lies in the family's conflicts and the way they handle survival. The zombies are just there for added scare fest. Without it, it will be just a normal Pinoy drama. Many also praised the "world-class quality" of the flick, story-wise aside cinematography and editing-wise, since the writer was able to make a suspenseful story within an already scary story.
Well, this is my take on these two divided sides. This is just a sentiment on how zombie die-hard fans should look, from a serious personal vantage point of view, and on how they should embrace the zombie basics - an apocalyptic world where a massive living dead are spreading out to wipe out humans because, well, they need also food to "live". And usually, to understand how to kill these creatures not usually possessed by evil but infected by a certain disease is hard to grasp. That's why most zombie movies have the notion that aiming for the head is the rule to eliminate any sign of abnormal life from them. And in the movie OUTSIDE, how the characters of movie handled the post-apocalyptic event can be seen as a product of their own confusion because, well, they don't know what's happening, what's causing it and why the dead are still moving and talking. And this utter confusion made their flaws to show. Hence, they are developing psychological disorders as they move on with their lives. They are just human and are too shocked with the sudden events.
THE ZOMBIE TROPE
Now, if you're a fan of this genre, you should also know a little history of the zombie trope. George Ramero, the director who explored the possibility of bringing back the dead through infectious diseases had his first Zs walk so slow that our protagonists still have the time to escape or fight. He has even has a talking corpse in The Living Dead - it answers clearly if questioned. Nowadays, with many new creative writers and directors, zombies can evolve into something different. Some can do parkour and some can even detect you if you pour blood all over your body. Gone are the days that zombie movies used a certain formula. That's why, viewers should open their minds to any kind of new possibilities of Z storytelling.
BUDGET ISSUE?
Now, going back to OUTSIDE. Many were irked because their expectations weren't met - less zombies and the characters are not exploring any other places and they are locked on in just a small hacienda house (In actuality, the film was shot in three different places in Negros Island Region in the Philippines. The bridge was in La Castellana, the church was shot in Kabankalan and the house was located in Ilog. All these places are in the south of Bacolod City, the capital of Negros Occ.) If budget was really an issue, they could have shot it in Manila. Why shot it in a province where they need to move their gears and pay hotels for their actors. The producers believed that shooting in a farmland is breath of fresh air. Buildings and cities burning are usual scenes in zombie films and their treatment for the places they choose are intentional and not by accident. That's the nice thing about filmmaking, you can trick people's mind and create a small environment by combining different locations which are far apart. As for the trailer, many had high hopes for the movie. Now the problem when one watches a trailer, he or she can get too overly excited, expectations run high. Sometimes it's better to save some excitement because it's only a teaser. That's why the film industry calls it a teaser trailer because the marketing team wants to give a sneak peek to potential viewers.
TO TELL OR NOT TELL (ORIGIN STORY)
OUTSIDE's TWD CONNECTION?
And here's my final take on Outside's family and psycholigcal drama. Remember TWD when it came out? Well, I love how The Mist-director Frank Darabont wrote and directed The Walking Dead when it was released over AMC. He gradually introduced characters. There was drama, lots chasing scenes, gore, lots of walkers and survivor characters. The Season 1 intro even tells you a little backstory of the main casts. However, the direction went from exciting to boring. I slowly became disinterested with what's become with TWD in Season 2 because the new writers didn't focus on the original survivors' tales. Instead, they added new characters, unnecessary Zombie chase scenes and inner conflicts, competing factions (communities made up just to cover a whole season) and how the writers poorly gave us a hint on how people can turn into zombies without even bitten or infected - but by just becoming full of rage and thinking negative thoughts. What? The survivors in the TWD universe becomes Walkers themselves just by hate and being paranoid? Well, I see this storyline as a poor innovation on the Zombie trope. This idea was a slap to many zombie fans.
Meanwhile, many original survivors who were introduced in the first season were left in a sorry state, forgotten in the sidelines. Some died in uninteresting fashion thus they are just probably victims of bad writing or poor ratings. The leader Rick Grimes, with all the fateful events he experienced like learning his wife is carrying a child from an affair, was a goner in later episodes. Well, it's okay to make him turn crazy .At least, they tried to tell the viewers that he is just human, very vulnerable. Now here is where I can connect OUTSIDE to the TWD series.
I guess the psychological family drama of TWD might have an influence to the OUTSIDE story premise.
Unlike in the TWD though, the people behind OUTSIDE focused and heavily invested their limited screen time on the characters on how, with a mysterious infection spreading and food becomes scarce, can affect the characters emotions, minds and relationships. Now, adding to the pressure are the past traumas the characters are carrying while the world is collapsing behind them. Everyone is becoming insane and having trust issues.
Now, seems familiar right? It seems it's inspired by TWD's Rick Grimes sad tale, after all. Now, about the spin-off Fear The Walking Dead? Well, people lost interest despite the many hordes of zombies. 'nuff said.
ZOMBIE HUMOR OR SERIOUSNESS
Sometimes it's nice to have Zombie movies that are filled with humor like the Japanese and Korean ones, and, oh, Zombieland, yes that funny take surviving the zombie apocalypse with a list of survival tips. Yes, these kind of movies are very entertaining to watch because of the humor and fast-paced action. But, sometimes it's great when you get to watch Z flicks with utter seriousness. At least, you'll really feel that the apocalypse isn't a time for laughter, it's always a time to survive. OUTSIDE didn't fail to show us the seriousness of the situation.
OUTSIDE Bridge scene
RUNNING TIME AND A SEQUEL?
The only thing that OUTSIDE editor(s) didn't do is to, at least, cut the running time. Make a tight shorter story because it's too dragging to watch a lengthy drama with emotional effect on the viewer. There's nothing wrong with telling a dramatic story as part of the plot but by shortening it could have given the audience time to breathe.
One one hand, Cinematography is great. Zombie make up are also fantastic. Acting were solid. Lighting effects feel natural.
In the meantime, the writers kept some stories untold and didn't gave answers to some lingering questions. This is a good idea if they are planning to do a sequel. Well, maybe, if they do, we will probably see more zombies (means more budget from Netflix), the kids grown up making awesome DIY weapons, the older sibling meeting her lady love once again against all odds, the mom has become a bad ass zombie killer too like Madmax's Furiosa amidst a backdrop of "real" post-apocalyptic outside world of the OUTSIDE universe. This will be cool!
It's 8/10 for me.
OUTSIDE is a directed by Carlo Ledesma. The cast are Sid Lucero, Beauty Gonzales, Marco Maza, Aiden Tyler Patdu, Enching Dee, Joel Torre and hordes of Zombies from Visayas.
