Outside (2024)

The zombies aren't to be feared.......

as much as the monster, the father. Outside is a movie based on a family's struggle, and the decline of said family against the backdrop of a zombie outbreak.

The father's childhood trauma, and subsequent c-PTSD, and his knowledge of his wife's 'secret' with his older brother is the core of the storyline.

His wife is the mother to 2 sons, the latter of which, is the father's biological son. The wife warily navigates her husband's animosity towards her.

By just over the halfway point in the movie, the father has already sabotaged his family thrice. Deliberately withholding info and lying about said info, and burning a map his brother had left with him of the possible Camp the wife and oldest son had mentioned earlier. When that 'scene' during the Christmas dinner is shown the viewer knows the father has completely lost all reasoning and is on the edge of madness.

The movie is about the family. Their relationships with one another. It isn't about the zombies. The family's failed struggle IS the basis of Outside. The movie could have survived without the zombie outbreak as a plot/plots. I wouldn't recommend this to anyone unless they're into intense family dynamics that aren't resolved amicably.

ps. The focus on the father's 'item' from his father was especially poignant. Time, for the father, once he was back in his childhood home, had stood still.

pss. The zombies shown on screen were much better portrayed than the movie poster, and yes, they can talk. Their utterances rasped with their concerns or fears in their zombie state.

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This isn't about zombies

Okay i lied its about zombies but the zombies are in the background. As a zombie fanatic, this is not a good zombie film and i would not recommend this movie to anybody who has a pass trauma of an abusive family. To not have any spoilers I would say, this could've been better and more marketed towards psychological thriller, and have zombie as a sub genre. If you took zombie out of the genre, it would just be a psychological thriller, and you would see how the family dynamics work. If you're looking for a zombie adventure film this is not it. I don't recommend this movie. I actually hated it and it scared me not because of the zombies, but because of the father. The ending was not even sad but more terrifying. 5/10

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