Man-made evils are much more horrifying than whatever supernatural force lurks in the darkness—a staple horror movie trope gets reiterated once again in the Filipino post-apocalyptic horror feature Outside, which chronicles how struggles of survival endured by a family during a zombie outbreak wane in front of the toxic patriarchal issues. In recent years, the Asian horror scene has invested significant effort when it comes to making compelling zombie fiction rooted in heavy themes and social issues, be it through Korean period pieces or Japanese manga adaptations of urban zombie horror—and Outside is a fine example of the effort going in the right direction. With an almost two-and-a-half-hour runtime, the movie devotes enough space to thoroughly chart out the gradual mental degradation—although I would have preferred if the movie had kept the causality of events a bit less on the nose. With closed-space narratives, performance of the actors and set design become an indicator of quality, which is top notch in this venture.
Spoilers Ahead
Francis Takes His Family To His Ancestral Home
Following a devastating zombie outbreak, Francis Able takes his family—Wife Iris and their two sons, Joshua and Lucas—to his ancestral family home, which he considers to be their last refuge. From the looks of it, the family has seen unspeakable horrors, and despite the parents’ efforts to guard their children from the harrowing reality outside, they had to accept that things had gone beyond control a long time ago. Returning home is tough for Francis; he had a rough childhood as his abusive, violent father, Arturo, left permanent scars in his mind, from which he hasn’t been able to heal. Which is why, after carefully scoping out the rooms and seeing Arturo had taken his own life after getting infected, Francis breathes a sigh of relief. He wears the blood-stained watch his father was wearing, which slyly hints at Francis following in his father’s footsteps.
Francis’ mother has turned into a zombie, and with her severed body, she tries to attack her own son when Francis puts her to rest with a bullet. It should be mentioned at this point that the zombies in the movie keep uttering the last words they had spoken in a loop; in that context, Francis’ zombified mother uttering ‘sorry’ repeatedly really defines Arturo’s role in their lives. Burying his parents, Francis tries to help his family settle down in his ancestral residence, but it is easier said than done. Francis tries to make do with whatever they have—living up to his responsibility as a caring, protective father who is trying to put a smile in the faces of his kids. Iris remains cold and distant; she and Francis don’t seem to be on amicable terms for reasons revealed much later in the movie, and it becomes quite clear that Francis shares a stronger bond with his younger son, Lucas, while Iris connects better with their older son, Joshua.
Iris becomes concerned for Francis as his childhood trauma pops up through his occasional night terrors and panic attacks and suggests that they should try to move away from the house, which is the source of Francis’ mental struggles. Francis adheres to her suggestion as Iris and Joshua advise them to move towards the north, to the mountainous region, where army camps might offer them a safe refuge, and a number of families have apparently already ventured there. However, the fact that Francis’ elder brother, Diego, has suggested doing so, suddenly puts Francis in a foul mood while he is driving his family away from the house. The family comes across a bridge, which appears blocked by cars, prompting Francis to consider returning home. However, Iris decides to venture outside anyway, when a horde of zombies attacks, and using his gun and grenade, Francis somehow manages to save his family. Days later, Francis returns to bring back the family van they had left at the spot while fleeing, but decides to dump it there and bring the fuel instead to turn on the generator at home. With electricity being back temporarily, Francis tries to lighten the mood by playing songs for his kids, and later, as he and Iris reminisce about the good old days while watching their wedding video on television, the duo make love, which seems more out of compulsion than passion.
Family Troubles and Francis’ Deep Seated Issues
Joshua misses his girlfriend and is mature enough to realize that cooping up inside this dilapidated house is not a permanent solution, which is why he tries to listen to rescue camp radio transmissions—much to Francis’ dismay, who is paranoid about his family’s safety and believes they will remain much safer inside the house. However, the zombie outbreak is not exactly the threat Francis is much concerned about; his mind has created a new personal enemy out of his brother Diego, who used to be the favorite son of Arturo and didn’t have to witness the horrors Francis was subjected to. Through hints and suggestions, it is revealed that Iris had had an extramarital affair with Diego, and Joshua is their son—which easily conveys why Francis feels a crippling anxiety and fear of losing his family to someone much more favored than him. Before the zombie outbreak even began, Iris was on the verge of leaving her family, but things are different now. For the security of her sons, as a mother, she has chosen to stay, and spending their days in the ancestral house, Francis thinks it to be the perfect time to mend the broken relationship with his wife. Iris cannot pretend that everything is just fine when their supplies are running out, when there is a strong chance of survival if they move to a much more secure location, but Francis is oblivious to all those facts. More than the zombie, he fears venturing outside; he will lose his family to a better husband, a better father—and his paranoia gradually starts turning him into a mirror image of his own father—a controlling, abusive, dominating jerk. To help Joshua ‘man up,’ Francis terrifies him by forcing the kid to practice shooting, and in the process ends up bringing a horde of zombies to the doorstep of their house. However, they are saved by the sudden appearance of a vehicle, the driver of which draws the attention of the zombies away from the house.
The next day Francis learns that their mysterious savior was none other than Diego himself, as the brothers meet at one of the locations they used to frequent in childhood. Diego has lost his wife and son to the outbreak, and is on his way north to the camps. Putting their past history aside, Diego tries to make amends with his brother and advises him to bring his family to the north as well, but Francis doesn’t take his counsel too kindly and begins to threaten Diego at gunpoint. Diego leaves a map for him anyway, which Francis initially decides to burn but later changes his mind. Returning home, he lies to Iris about finding Diego dead and doubles up his effort of fortifying the house. Francis is really adamant to force his family to stay inside the house no matter what; he even goes on to kill a zombie and brings its decapitated head as a trophy to show to his family, as if it were some assurance about him qualifying for his job as the family’s protector. While Francis’ manic behaviors distance him from his family, Iris’ caring, loving presence allows her sons to gain a sense of comfort. Iris and Joshua know for a fact that the zombie activities outside have significantly lessened, and there is a strong possibility of finding a safer location—but they fear Francis’ malevolent presence enough to never say a word about it to him. Its as if ghost of Francis’ father has possessed the house, and his son along with it.
Joshua Leaves the House
Joshua once sees Francis with the map given to him by Diego and brings up the topic when, once again, to divert family’s attention from the present crisis, Francis props up a new celebratory excuse—this time with an untimely Christmas celebration. The gun at Francis side in the dinner table really highlights how much he has turned out like his father, making his family comply through fear. Joshua’s revelation digs up a can of worms as Francis tries to malign his wife, Iris, by almost bringing up her affair with Diego and revealing the fact that she was going to leave family before the outbreak began. Following a heated argument with his wife, Francis burns the map in front of Joshua and Iris just to spite them, taking sick pleasure in seeing their miserable faces. Joshua is especially affected by this incident, as days later, seeing Francis barricading the main entrance, he can’t help but express his frustration by lashing out at Francis and calling out his actions. An enraged Francis smacks him across the face, and as blood trickles down his father’s watch, the cycle of patriarchal violence completes its course.
A wounded soldier, Corcuera, visits the house that night, and Francis allows him to enter despite initially being unwilling to do so. The soldier reveals that he is coming from Delta Camp and confirms the fact that there is much less zombie presence in the area. Corcuera also reveals that after losing his comrades to the zombies, he was assisted by Diego, who suggested he seek refuge in Francis’ house before himself succumbing to the zombie attack. Iris realizes Francis had lied to her previously about Diego’s death. Francis allows the soldier to stay by keeping him confined in the same basement room where his father used to torture him. Not being able to put up with Francis’ maniac antics any longer, Joshua decides to leave the house and bids farewell to his mother late at night. Whatever he is going to face outside couldn’t possibly be any worse than whatever Francis has turned into over the days.
Was the Abel family able to survive?
The next day, Francis learns about Joshua’s departure and loses whatever sanity he had any longer. His paranoia, insecurities, and frustration finally push him completely over the edge, and from that point, it was just a downward spiral of mental degradation for Francis. He kills the soldier by bashing his skull with a hammer, and knocking out Iris, Francis locks her and Lucas up in the basement room. Iris used to continually mention about supplies drying up, so Francis decides to kill a dog outside that had previously bitten him and prepare it as a meal to feed his family. Iris’ initial attempt to flee from Francis fails, but the next time, Lucas assists his mother to lure Francis inside and escape from the house by trapping him in the basement room. However, the duo are attacked by a zombie, and in their attempt to flee from it, they unwittingly bring it inside the house. Francis manages to break out of the room and beat the zombie to death, but by then, it has already bitten their youngest son, Lucas.
To stop zombie infection from spreading into Lucas’ brain, Iris decides to cut off his arm, and Francis is shell-shocked by the experience. Eventually, Iris manages to shake Francis out of his stupor and sends him to bring a vehicle to take Lucas to emergency treatment—whatever is available any longer. Francis returns to the bridge to bring the van back to the house, only to confront Joshua, who ends up killing his father by accidentally firing the rifle at his disposal. Realizing his mistake, Joshua holds Francis close for the last time, pleading for his forgiveness—even after leaving the house, Joshua couldn’t escape the cycle or violence after all. Francis seems to be in his sane, humane state in the final moments of his life, as he holds Joshua close and accepts him as his own son.
As Outside comes to an end, a distraught Joshua leaves with the van, returning to the direction Francis came from, and as we see Iris’ face lit up with the reflection of a car headlight, it almost seems that Joshua has returned to the house to take his mother and brother away to safety. However, Outside’s ending remains ambiguous to a certain extent, as the light fades right after, and without hearing a vehicle stopping outside the house or accompanying footstep, which might suggest Joshua’s arrival, there is a possibility that Iris and Lucas are left behind. Perhaps Joshua had considered his father to be the only surviving member of the family back then and assumed that, given his present mental state, he had killed Iris and Lucas in his derangement. I prefer to hope that in Francis’ absence, the family has found solace after moving to a safer location—finally getting freed from both manmade and supernatural afflictions.