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Netflix's new zombie horror movie has become a global streaming hit. Netflix has been producing original movies since the mid-2010s. Although they take on a variety of genres, they began making horror projects about a year in, with 2016's I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House. Their roster has significantly expanded since then to include movies such as The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The Perfection, Apostle, and The Cloverfield Paradox, the Stephen King adaptations Gerald's Game, Mr. Harrigan's Phone, and In the Tall Grass, as well as the Fear Street trilogy and the Babysitter and Bird Box franchises.

Netflix has also dabbled in the zombie genre before, with their most successful feature-length installment in the genre most likely being Zack Snyder's Army of the Dead, which spawned the prequel Army of Thieves. On the series side, one of their most popular efforts is the South...

Outside is a fantastic Filipino Netflix original film about a family dealing with the aftermath of a zombie apocalypse. The film has a minimal number of characters, and they shoulder the narrative and take the audience through the journey of their survival. Their life in a villa turns dark very quickly when they realize no one is coming to save them.

Spoilers Ahead

Francis

Popular Filipino actor Sid Lucero portrays the role of Francis, who is on the run with his wife Iris and two sons, Josh and Lucas, away from their home in the city in the wake of a zombie outbreak that turned many people they knew into the human flesh-eating creatures. Francis is as terrified as his family, and they move up north in the hope the outbreak will not follow them. Francis moves into the villa where he grew up, hoping to reunite with his parents.

Netflix's Outside is a post-apocalyptic horror film centered around the Abel family, and its ensemble boasts a variety of talented actors. The Abel family is composed of Francis, his wife Iris, and their two children, Joshua and Lucas, and the film follows them as they try to flee a zombie outbreak infesting their city. They retreat to Francis's childhood farmhouse, resulting in all sorts of family drama, from uncovered childhood trauma to wild marital issues. By Outside's ending, no character is the same, with the talented cast fully flexing their chops with their dynamic portrayals.

Outside is directed by Carlo Ledesma, a Filipino filmmaker known for his work on low-budget horror films like The Tunnel and Sunod. With its Netflix release as a horror film around the Halloween season, Outside is the director's most prominent movie yet, and it will undoubtedly reach the most expansive audience pool. Most...

This article contains reference to domestic abuse.

The ending of Netflix's zombie horror Outside takes the tired trope of zombies not being the true monsters and applies it to a very dark and personal topic: domestic abuse. Outside follows the struggling Abel family as they return to Francis' (Sid Lucero) childhood home to weather the zombie apocalypse. As it progresses, Iris (Beauty Gonzalez) expresses her desire to leave the house and take their sons, Josh (Marco Masa) and Lucas (Aiden Tyler Patdu) to a military camp. Francis, however, has other ideas, quickly becomes the real source of his family's fear, and turns Outside into one of the best horror movies on Netflix.

In the final act of Outside, Francis' abuse over his family both escalates and begins to unravel. After Corcuera (Enchong Dee) arrives and dispels his lies, Josh leaves the house to find help, Francis locks his family...

“Outside,” (2024) the latest Filipino offering on Netflix, is a dense psychological drama set in the quickfire world of the zombie apocalypse. It traverses the familiar grim reality of an apocalypse with a moderate dose of zombie-related dread and wanton violence. What writer-director Carlo Ledesma explores more in his film is the horror of childhood trauma, the festering of which creates a cycle of violence that is more terrible than any of the undead’s actions. The price for such an attempt is the wrath of the fans of zombie films. “Outside” is bereft of pulsating zombie-killing actions that one is accustomed to in such films. Instead, it examines the frailties of human emotions and the ugliness of the very much alive.

The film starts with Francis’s (Sid Lucero) and Iris’ (Beauty Gonzalez) wedding video, earmarking the relationship to be the key subject in the story. Fast forward a few...