If you plan to watch it, just leave and go back after you do

I’m a sucker for Zombie shows. I’ve watched the entirety of The Walking Dead, even though I felt there was no need to continue the series after Glenn died.

I have this nagging thought that a portion of our future will be in such a state. Of course, I don’t want that. But when you have extra time on your hands and you’ve got nothing to do, you don’t have much control over your mind. Yes, I know I should meditate more, lol.

One thing that made me press play on this new release was the vivid vista of the province, which was a massive part of my childhood. No, we didn’t frolic on sugarcane fields, but we did have fun running around rice fields. Our summer vacations were spent playing in rice fields, running after chickens and ducks, and riding the carabao a few times. So, I guess it brought me back to when I enjoyed my innocence. The film was shot in Negros Occidental, thus the sugarcane fields. A portion of my childhood was spent in the rice granary of the Philippines- Nueva Ecija.

If you’re looking for massive zombie attacks, no, you wouldn’t find them here.

The few encounters with the monsters were sprinkled minimally throughout the movie’s 2 hour or more duration. But those encounters were stellar.

Sure, the zombies looked a lot like those in foreign releases—should they look differently? The only thing different is that they speak. Or better yet, they grumbled. And I felt a teeny bit sad for them. Maybe because they speak the words they had last spoken before they died.

Outside is not a horror movie. It’s a psychological thriller that will make you question your values and your capacity to love.

Would you be so protective that you wouldn’t let the people around you enjoy their lives? Or would you give them freedom despite the dangers that surround them?

It’s also a play on Filipino family dynamics, where you would sometimes be a parent to a child you’re not biologically related to. Up to what extent can you breathe down their necks?

I just feel a little shortchanged on Francis’s childhood backstory. If you ask me- I’d say he was a victim of domestic violence- by a father who was so scared of the dangers of the outside world that he had to keep his son locked up in the basement.

Francis’ paranoia made him a murderer. And the way he viewed the world transferred to his stepson.

In a nutshell, I enjoyed the movie. I never got startled nor winced by the gore. But it made me think deeply about what I would do in the face of a Zombie apocalypse. Yes, I would hide in the room and pray.

How about you? Do you think about these things when you have time?