Monsters within: Inside Netflix Philippines’ first zombie film—‘Outside’

I can’t talk about Outside without mentioning its brilliant visual storytelling. Ledesma is a master of long, steady shots: scenes where the camera stays still, allowing the characters and setting to tell the story. Nowhere is this more evident than in the dining scenes. The way these moments track the Abel family’s disintegration is nothing short of genius. At their first dinner, they sit closely together—Francis beside Lucas (Aiden Tyler Patdu), Iris next to Joshua (Marco Masa). By the second dinner, Francis has taken the head of the table. But by the third, there’s a vast space between Francis and his family. The emotional and physical distance between them is heartbreaking to witness. Ledesma didn’t rely on dialogue alone to show how far they had drifted; the visual language did part of its work.

Then there’s Lucero, who plays Francis with such a raw intensity that it’s hard to look away.

Ledesma shared how Lucero, a professional shooter, brought an incredible level of authenticity to his role. “He was very specific in saying, ‘Director, my gun shouldn’t be working after eight shots,’” Ledesma recalls. That attention to detail is what sets Lucero’s performance apart—he never overplays Francis’ descent into madness. His portrayal is quiet, even when it’s devastating. In one of the film’s most memorable scenes, filmed in a single take under gruelling conditions, Lucero stumbles as he runs—not planned, but real—despite his gymnastic background. And it’s that realism, that unpolished edge, that makes his character’s unravelling so gut-wrenching to watch.

The film’s authenticity extends beyond its performances. Ledesma was committed to using practical effects as much as possible, even when it came to the makeup for the dead ones. “All the makeup had to be real. They really had to wear those contact lenses, which is very unpleasant,” he explains. This makes the dead ones in Outside feel more menacing than any CGI effect ever could. But more than that, it keeps the film grounded in a way that makes the horror feel personal.

Related: What is horror? Award-winning Filipino filmmaker explains the spine-tingling genre

Perhaps the most emotionally charged scene in the film—the one that has stayed with me long after the credits rolled—is the infamous “chop-chop” sequence. Iris, in a desperate bid to save her son Lucas, is forced to amputate his arm after he’s bitten by a dead one. It’s brutal, it’s raw, and it’s disturbingly realistic. Ledesma and Gonzalez worked with a medical expert to ensure the scene’s accuracy, and it shows. 

“It’s really hard to cut through bone,” Ledesma notes, adding a layer of realness that made the scene all the more harrowing. But what struck me wasn’t just the violence—it was the desperation, the love, and the impossible choices that Iris had to make as a mother. At first, she wanted to leave because she “wanted to be a better mom”, but it was under these unfortunate, gruelling circumstances that she fully embraced the role. 

This is what makes Outside so much more than just a zombie film. At its core, it’s about a family struggling to survive; not just against the horrors of the world outside, but the demons that live inside their home. And as Ledesma puts it, “No one here is a bad guy. No one here is evil.” Even Francis, as he spirals deeper into his trauma, isn’t cast as a villain. He’s simply a man broken by the weight of generational abuse, trying to do his best in a world that’s collapsing around him.

In the end, the watch that Francis took from his father’s corpse—symbolic of the abuse passed down through generations—is never handed to his son Joshua. It’s a quiet but powerful moment that signals the end of a cycle. The generational trauma stops with Francis. Outside is a story of both survival and breaking free.

Yes, Outside is one of the most immersive, thought-provoking and layered local films I’ve seen in a long time. It’s not just a Filipino take on the zombie genre—it’s a deeply human story about the monsters we carry within us. And for that reason alone, it’s a must-watch.

Outside is now streaming on Netflix.

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