They're Outside

I am a fan of found footage movies and always give them a watch whether they are good or bad and as fans of this genre know there are more bad than good out there.

This little film could have been more in the side of good than bad but it doesn't because of two small little details the filmmakers forgot about.

The first one is making it scary, there were no scary parts in the whole film, even green eyes was laughable.

The second was the ending, once again it looked as if the filmmakers ran out of ideas and just decided to end the movie.

In the plus side the acting was way above par for this kind of movie and I wasn't bored by the film.

It's a shame really that the actors involved were very good at their job but given a dreadful script. Let's hope they get a chance of doing another film together that will be worth watching.

There are already quite a lot of found footage movies based on the premise that a social media personality undertakes a particular project, so in order for a new film which uses this premise to set itself apart, the project has to incorporate some innovative idea.

THEY'RE OUTSIDE does that: a youtuber with a channel called "Psychology Inside Out" who documents his efforts to help people with various mental issues sets himself the challenge of helping a woman who suffers from agoraphobia (often called a "fear from open spaces" but more accurately a fear from situations from which it is difficult to escape, which, of course, can include open spaces). She has not consciously set foot outside of her house in five years, for fear of a local legend called Green Eyes.

The film actually provides a 5 minute prologue which explains this legend; suffice it to say that according to it, those cursed by Green Eyes first hear a knock on the door, then get lost in endless woods, and finally find the so called "Green House" which bodes very ill for them. The woman is afraid of leaving her house because she thinks she has heard the knock and fears getting lost in the woods surrounding her home.

I was unable to verify whether this is an actual local legend or just made up for the movie. There is an English Folk Custom called "Jack in the Green", but it seems to be something different, though the movie contains scenes which evidently depict it.

One thing the movie does well is that as events proceed, we learn new and unexpected things about the main characters, and these become key plot points in the story. This brings a new perspective on them and helps keep audience interest.

The legend leaves little room for a gradual build-up of suspense, since already after hearing the knock it condemns a person to become lost forever, but the movie seems to get around this by applying it inconsistently. For example, early on, the youtuber seems to hear the knock but doesn't get lost. Be that as it may, there is a little bit of escalation, mainly due to the new things we learn about the characters in the course of the movie.

One thing that may turn some people off is that the youtuber treats those around him quite arrogantly, so much so that he essentially devolves into the pseudoskeptic caricature. As a reminder, when it comes to paranormal phenomena, a skeptic is someone who advocates no position but only attempts to evaluate evidence provided by those who advocate a position, whereas a pseudoskeptic is someone who says that they advocate no position but in reality advocates the position that all paranormal phenomena are bunk. In general, skeptics have done a rather poor job of calling out pseudoskeptics in their midst, and that is perhaps why the cliche tends to be common.

The youtuber's arrogance has to be regarded as a classic example of a tragic flaw, since he he intends well and genuinely tries to help the woman, yet the flaw ultimately leads to their disappearance (mentioned right at the start of the film, so not really a spoiler).

The acting in the film is well above average for found footage movies, as is the cinematography. Yet, despite all the things going for it, OUTSIDE could not excite me very much.

There are some things the characters do which are left unexplained (for example, what is the reason for the tree carvings and why was that activity not subject to the curse?) and the ending feels rather anticlimactic. I'm not sure whether this has anything to do with the subliminal shots of the ending throughout key scenes in the movie or not.

OUTSIDE tells a very different story from your average found footage movie, so I would expect that even among found footage fans, it will elicit mixed reactions. Probably, those who like folk horror or movies with a psychological emphasis are more likely to enjoy it.

Putting together a list of movies from FrightFest 2020 I would watch,I decided that one of the things I really wanted to do,was to at least see one title which would be streaming/screening for the first time ever at the event. Finding two premier showings were happening on Saturday, (the other was Playhouse (2020)) I flipped a coin,and went outside.

Note:Review contains some spoilers.

View on the film:

Hyping up to camera that he will cure Sarah Sanders of her agoraphobia in ten days, in between requesting viewers subscribe to his channel, Tom Wheatley gives a terrific performance as Spencer which avoids sanding down his off-putting rough edges, thanks to Wheatley delivering the dead-pan comedic swipes of the first half with a brittleness, which builds curiosity on learning more about Spencer,that Wheatley finely balances by having Spencer's bluntness become increasingly abrasive,firmly holding him away from becoming sympathetic.

Entering with a New Age groove,Emily Booth is a absolute delight as Penny, whose more mature, measured outlook Booth uses to keep Penny firmly at odds with Spencer's goals,whilst Chrissy Randall gives a quietly unsettling turn as Sanders, whose agoraphobia has Sanders walk on extremely fragile eggshells.

Partly based on the real Jack in the Green event held each year in Hastings, co-directors Sam Casserly & Airell Anthony Hayles wonderfully splice the Found Footage with colourful different methods of documentary making, from animation going into the background of Green Eyes and real footage of the Jack in the Green event, with retro, lo-res digital video giving the opening a local amateur doc appearance.

Taking a less is more approach to the sighting of Green Eyes,the screenplay by co-director Hayles treads the Found Footage with a chilly Folk Horror backdrop creeping up to a sinister surreal final.

Keeping Spencer, his girlfriend Nicole and Penny within Sanders house for the majority of the film, Hayles brightly lights simmering paranoia in the small-scale set-up allowing for up close and personal shocks to bounce between Sanders and Spencer,who look from the front door to discover what is outside.

The best part of this movie is the acting. I really think that the two leads did a great job with their characters. They were interesting to watch and they were both very vivid, in different ways. I wasn't thrilled with the artificial romance, but otherwise the characters were good.

The story was good. Not great, but good. The villain was new and fit the story. There were not a lot of scares in this, but it was fun to watch and much better than I expected.

I think the concept of this movie was interesting. An agoraphobic who can't leave her house has an actual supernatural reason to not leave her house. A psychologist bets he can get her out of her house in ten days. Things go bad very quickly. This all sounds fine and dandy, but then the man starts talking and never shuts up. Ever. The more he rambles on, the more I can't stand him. The agoraphobic barely moves or speaks, so I never did care about her. There are no scary moments in this movie. I do know this. Forget the ten days. I would have been out of that house in ten minutes just to get away from hearing the man drone on and on about how I should get out of that house. I gave it an extra star because the actor really made me dislike his character.