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Carlo Ledesma (director), Outside, 2024. 142 min.

This review contains spoilers.

Outside (2024), written and directed by Carlo Ledesma, is the newest entry in the ever-growing list of zombie films, which are still rare in the Philippines. It follows Francis (Sid Lucero), his wife Iris (Beauty Gonzalez), and their young sons Joshua (Marco Masa) and Lucas (Aiden Tyler Patdu) as they retreat to Francis’s parents’ mansion on an isolated farm amid the zombie apocalypse. Their situation could not be any bleaker; they must deal with food shortages, but also parenting and marital issues brought about by generational trauma.

Like most zombie movies and series in recent history, from the United States to South Korea, Ledesma does away with sluggish ghouls. His added twist is that zombies speak; they repeatedly say their final words before their reanimation, giving them a remnant of humanity.

Outside deserves all praise for its visuals, thanks to cinematographer Shing-Fung Cheung. His sombre colour grading accentuates the fictive world’s doom and gloom, while his camera angles and compositions add to its unease and dread. The cast acquit themselves well in their roles, especially Lucero and Gonzalez, who act with emotion. Masa and Patdu show promise as child actors of their age, and hopefully they will feature in more major projects as they grow up.

Nevertheless, Ledesma’s imagining of the contemporary Filipino zombie is not fully realised.

The “zombiespeak”, which could have been developed better as a subtext, reinforces initial suspicions that it is a gimmick and, for many Filipino social media users, a corny one at that. It only has a semblance of relevance when Francis sees his reanimated mother, who keeps saying “Sorry” before he shoots her in the head. Though the zombiespeak will determine a crucial event later in the film, it seems unwarranted—anticlimactic even.

While it allows viewers to imagine the lives of other zombies—a soldier’s “Pass, please”, churchgoers’ “Sa ngalan ng Ama at Anak” (“In the name of the Father and of the Son”), a young woman’s “Umalis ka na, mahal ko” (“Leave already, my love”), and an old man’s “Mauna ka na” (“You go first”)—the zombiespeak doesn’t enrich the narrative, much less propel it.

Still, it shows potential in a farmer saying, “Lupa ko ‘to” (“This is my land”). This could have been pushed further. Alas, Outside missed the opportunity to highlight class struggle.

It is a no-brainer to do precisely that, given its zombies are mostly from the masses. More importantly, Francis’s family owns a farm. What happened to their workers? Did the family mistreat their workers? Did the workers become zombies as they toiled away? Did the workers perish—get massacred—even before the outbreak? These demand utmost attention, especially since the Philippines has seen cases of land grabbing and killing of farmers over the years.

Besides, the movies that defined the zombie genre, i.e., George Romero’s Night of the Living Dead (1968) and Dawn of the Dead (1978), are social commentaries, particularly on the Civil Rights movement (the former’s Black protagonist was ultimately shot by white men who assumed he’s a zombie) and consumerism (the latter’s zombies, who repeat their final actions while alive, are in a shopping mall, no less). What is the excuse for a 2024 movie to not follow suit, given that there have been more sociopolitical issues even in the Philippines alone?

Yet if Outside is intended as a commentary on generational trauma using a zombie story, it is akin to shooting a zombie but not in the head. The zombies’ very existence has little to no impact on the characters’ turmoil within and among them. It only serves as a marketing ploy in a world infested with streaming services and social media. Even if one were to remove its zombie elements, the film’s narrative core still works as a psychological horror. It can even emulate Mike de Leon’s Kisapmata (1981).

In any case, Outside’s exploration of generational trauma is welcome and resonates with many Filipinos, who have a culture of obeying their parents even if it is not in their best interests. It contributes to ever-widening discussions on mental health, which, more than ever, demands the utmost attention.

Viewers would learn that Francis’s late father was a cruel taskmaster who imprisoned him in the basement many times as a child. He tends to have flashbacks of the ordeal, causing anxiety attacks.

His parents also seemingly favoured his older brother, Diego (James Blanco), whom he would mock as “Mr Golden Boy” during an argument. Francis is already hostile to Diego when he spots him by the lake, snubbing his offer to bring them to a camp with ample provisions. But why, given there is a zombie apocalypse, where one has to prioritise survival and hold on to those around them who are living, especially their family?

Viewers would learn that Iris had an affair with Diego years ago and that he’s Joshua’s father. Hence Francis despises Diego, who is hard on Joshua, and favours Lucas. Hence Francis is a control freak who doesn’t want his family to leave, given he knows the zombies are weakening and dwindling. Hence Francis is turning into his father, even doing to his family what has been done to him.

If anything, Outside shows that bad parenting is like a zombie virus, or even worse, which could lead to a human apocalypse among the present generation—and beyond.

How to cite: Garcia, Nick. “Imaging the Contemporary Filipino Zombie in Carlo Ledesma’s Outside.” Cha: An Asian Literary Journal, 27 Oct. 2024, chajournal.blog/2024/10/27/outside.

Nick Garcia is from Manila, Philippines. He writes news and feature stories for PhilSTAR L!fe and his personal essays have been published on Rappler Voices and Inquirer Young Blood. He is taking up his Master of Fine Arts in creative writing at De La Salle University. His poetry can be found in Cha.