A week has passed since Netflix unleashed the horror film, “Outside” globally. As of this writing, it is number one in the Philippines, Hong Kong, Bolivia and the UAE, and No. 5 in the world.
n Director Carlo Ledesma with Sid Lucero, Beauty Gonzalez and Marco Masa at the post screening dialogue. CONTRIBUTED PHOTOS/EDDIE BOY ESCUDERO
By now, you’ve probably read what people are saying about it on social media or in the news. The consensus is, if you’re expecting the type of zombie film that involves a lot of action, running and narrow escapes (“28 Days Later,” “World War Z,” “Zombieland,” “Train to Busan”), this isn’t it.
Ledesma has more stories to tell from the world of ‘Outside.’
Yes, there are zombies, however, the outbreak is but the backdrop for what’s truly dark and disturbing in the life of the Abel family. This is a story about the abuse and trauma father and husband Francis (Sid Lucero) has experienced and eventually subjects his family to.
What I do like about director Carlo Ledesma is when he does horror he still manages to give his audience something different each time. In 2011’s indie, “The Tunnel” he used the found footage genre to tell a story of a monstrous presence in the tunnels of an abandoned rail system beneath Sydney; in 2019’s MMFF entry, “Sunod,” he told a ghost story set in call center building; and in 2022’s “The Kapre,” for Hulu’s “Bite Size Halloween,” he did a six-minute short on a Philippine mythological creature.
I asked him if he would try to do something new for his next horror film or if he wanted to do a sequel to “Outside.” He answered, “As soon as I finished editing this movie, I realized I wasn’t ready to let it go. I’m in love with the world of ‘Outside.’ There are so many more stories to tell. Yes, I’m willing to write and direct more.”
So many things contributed to the storytelling in “Outside,” the house and the location were perfect and delivered so much atmosphere. The crew went all over Negros Occidental hunting for a place like the Gaston Mansion in Manapla, where “Oro, Plata, Mata” was shot. After weeks of searching, they found an American house built in the 1920’s in the Municipality of Ilog, 96 kilometers away from Bacolod, “off the precipice” of Kabankalan. Ledesma has called it, “a dream come true, we didn’t have to build anything, it was just there.”
With the help of production designer, Jed Sicangco and the Bacolod community, Ledesma said they were able to add old photographs, old furniture, artifacts, relics, statues and sculptures to the house. I noticed one scene where the gigantic saints could be seen in the background, their presence was more creepy than reassuring.
Shing Fung Cheung’s (who was born in Hong Kong and lives in Australia) evocative cinematography captures the idyll and the decay, terror and the desolation of “Outside.” He has so many good shots, but among my favorites were that of a church’s cross and steeple peeping above fields of sugar cane, and that of a lone blue tractor in the middle of the fields.
Roy Santos’ chillingly brilliant sound design and Paul and Myka Sigua’s musical score all work together to serve the story. The final dinner scene in particular was so well done.
“In the three dinner scenes, you can hear the subtle sound of creaking wood which gets a bit louder each time. When Francis slams the table, the house feels like it’s collapsing from the weight of the secrets coming out,” Ledesma elaborated.
The director and his team succeeded in making the house seem like an “observer” to what is going on in the Abel family.
“Outside” is truly a heavy film, should Ledesma take a break from horror, he said he’d like to do a science fiction, action or sports movie. He just wants them to be “Filipino stories that not just Filipino audiences can relate to but that global audiences can latch on to.”
Be the first to comment