Outside Movie Review: A marital breakdown at a time of zombie apocalypse

In Carlo Ledesma's Outside, Iris (Beauty Gonzalez) narrates a story to her younger son, Lucas (Aiden Tyler Patdu), about an insecure boy who pretends to be attacked by a wolf to gain attention from his parents. The boy is deemed ‘bad’ for doing so. This moment, coming after a heated argument between Iris and her husband, reflects the growing strain in their marriage.

Director: Carlo Ledesma

Cast: Sid Lucero, Beauty Gonzalez, Marco Masa, Aiden Tyler Patdu

Language: Filipino

Platform: Netflix

Outside opens dramatically, with Francis (Sid Lucero) and his family among the few survivors of a zombie outbreak. He takes his wife, Iris, and their sons, Joshua (Marco Masa) and Lucas, to his family’s farmhouse for safety. There, Francis finds his father dead by suicide and is forced to kill his mother, who has become a zombie. His decision to keep his abusive father’s gun signals the dark turn the story will take.

Francis is the central figure in this psychological horror, and Ledesma’s writing excels in portraying his transformation from an anxious family man into a tyrant. His dreams, filled with memories of being locked in the farmhouse basement as a child, begin to blend into his waking life, feeding his insecurity. Francis burns the family’s escape map, sabotages their van, and insists that the farmhouse is their only safe haven. At one point, he even kills a soldier for food, marking a significant shift in his character.

Iris's perspective, shared in the film’s pre-climax, suggests that Francis is not inherently evil but a man desperate for love and validation. This is supported by earlier scenes, where Francis views the farmhouse not as protection from zombies, but as a place to keep his wife from leaving him. His growing mistrust and fragile ego are only worsened by the discovery of her past infidelity.

Some might argue that it’s important to present both sides of characters driven to violence by their past. However, this can leave the audience uncertain whether to sympathize or condemn them. Ledesma walks this fine line, but eventually makes Francis’s irredeemability clear, using visual cues like his increasing physical distance from his family at the dining table.

As the film progresses, however, the zombie outbreak, which initially seems crucial, becomes a mere subplot. The family’s internal struggles take precedence, and the zombie element feels underdeveloped. There’s no clear explanation for the outbreak, and the threat feels diminished when the zombies are described as weakening over time. This weakens the tension in those scenes.

At its core, Outside questions whether physical safety can truly protect against deeper emotional instability. A key shot of a “Home Is Where The Heart Is” keychain reinforces the idea that no external threat compares to the damage caused by internal discord.