A scene from 'Outside.' Netflix 

Ever since the trailer of a zombie flick set in the Philippines was revealed and hit social media platforms, it garnered a lot of attention from the get-go.

Netizens praised how the film looked despite only seeing a few minutes of footage, citing the cinematography, as well premise to be intriguing to Filipinos looking to satisfy their horror itch during the Halloween season.

Now streaming on Netflix, “Outside” is a story about a family trying to survive a zombie apocalypse. 

Starring Sid Lucero and Beauty Gonzalez, as couple Francis and Iris, the new take on the zombie genre caught audiences off-guard with one review on IMDB stating that it is not really what they expected.

Netflix review: 'Outside' mixes zombie thrills, toxic family drama

But for writer-director Carlo Ledesma, the zombie apocalypse is merely a device for the real story to take place and that is the toxic family dynamic in which the film presents.

“This is really about a family that can’t communicate with each other. This is really about a family who is at a lack of words and trying to say one thing to the other,” Ledesma said in an online interview.

Ledesma’s major influences

Ledesma said he was always a fan of the zombie genre citing "Train to Busan" as one his favorite films of all time. But the story he wanted to tell is a more contained one about a family “because that’s where I can relate the most.”

The major inspiration that Ledesma cited was Danny Boyle’s “28 Days Later,” recalling his times as a film student when he first watched the film. 

“I remember watching that film and I was so amazed by the fact that Danny Boyle used the same cameras that we were using in film school,” he said.

“He shot that movie with a consumer camcorder, so for my friends and I, when we realized that, it really triggered us in a sense that, ‘wow,’ if a big production can shoot with the cameras we’re using, who’s to stop us from trying to make our own stories?,” he added.

Ledesma also said the films he and his crew looked at were not horror movies but instead dramas about disintegrating families like “Revolutionary Road,” “Kramer vs. Kramer,” and “Ordinary People.”

“I really wanted to explore a lot of themes within that family dynamic. So I really wanted to explore a lot of themes within that family dynamic. So I told the crew, guys, we all know, we're all horror fans, we all know how to shoot horror already. Instead, let's really look at how family dramas are conveyed throughout film and let's try our best to kind of really capture the honesty of what's happening in the family and put it in our film,” he added.

But one particular aspect that Ledesma drew upon for "Outside" was the recent COVID-19 pandemic. 

“I wrote an original draft more than 10 years ago and then when I moved back to the Philippines, I put it aside," he said. “But during the pandemic, I decided to write it in a Philippine setting because I had a lot of thoughts, fears, and anxieties as a parent that I wanted to place into the script.”

Less is more

In a YouTube series that Ledesma took to break down his previous film “Sunod,” he said that his philosophy in making movies is always the “less is more” approach as he is not a fan of spoon-feeding the audience information.

“If the audience chooses to interpret the film I’d much rather they think about it rather than me or my characters trying to just talk about you know, talk about it all the time,” he said.

“Because for me, that doesn’t feel like cinema for me,” he added.

Ledesma cited that films he loves are the ones who try to make him listen and watch for clues and that is what he tried to do for "Outside."

He also said that the film is “very much a quiet film,” in that he worked hand in hand with the actors. 

One instance in which Ledesma’s philosophy is applied is when Gonzalez would tell him, “Direk, hindi ko na kailangan sabihin 'to. I can say this with a look.”

The creative process

When comparing the creative process to his other films, Ledesma cited that each film is very different because of the different stories that they want to tell, “you’re dealing with a different story all the time.” 

Number two, your crew will more often than not, be different. Your actors will be different, so the attack for each film really has to be centered on whatever the script is,” he added.

Ledesma workshopped Francis and Iris with Lucero and Gonzalez, stating that he had the characters written in the page but they were involved in the costume fittings as well as readings and rehearsals.

“'Yung rehearsal process namin, was not so much about memorizing the lines, saying the lines [like] how we would do it sa theater. Instead, a lot of what we did during the pre-production process was we just sat down in a room and talked," he said.

Ledesma also added that both Lucero and Gonzalez were able to provide backstories and nuances with Francis and Iris that would take him by surprise when they were shooting. But Ledesma thoroughly emphasized to his leading actors that none of the characters are meant to be antagonists.

“I said to Sid, ‘Sid,’ the last thing I want for you is to attack Francis as someone who is evil, I said.’ Whatever it is you’re doing in a scene you have to feel 100% that what you’re doing is right for your character. So that, I think, informed a lot of his acting decisions,” he added.

For “Outside,” Ledesma’s main approach was through storyboards with a lot of scenes in the film storyboarded which allowed his team in getting a proper shot list that they can focus on each day during the shoot.

A crew member apparently told Ledesma that he’s known for having lots of shots in his films, and it was deliberate because he liked doing coverage and cutaway shots for a lot of elements in the story.

“So, to make things easier to understand… this is the film that I storyboarded the most, and I think it was a big help,” he added.

The 'audience reception'

During its initial release, the most common complaint that general audiences have about "Outside" was the length and pacing while others cite the film’s misleading promotional material.

Ledesma said that in the trailer, they tried their best to make it obvious that the zombies were merely a device in which the story would be told. 

“If you see the trailer, if you look closely and if you watch it, you only see zombies really appearing a couple of times,” Ledesma said.

“We really wanted to create a sense of mystery and really hit at the fact that, okay, this is really more about the family. It's really more about something that's happening within their homes,” he added.

Ledesma thought that maybe people got too excited about the film, coming in with the expectation that it was going to be like a zombie action-oriented film in which Ledesma also stated that he is a fan of.

“A lot of kills, a lot of gore… So I think a lot of zombie fans were coming in and expecting that kind of movie as well, and to be honest, I have those movies in my head too. I have those movies that I would like to do in the future,” he said.

But for "Outside," Ledesma emphasized the family elements in the film, stating that they really wanted to put themselves in the family’s shoes and their problems that go on inside.

Ledesma recalled the pandemic, stating that “there were times when days just felt slow.” 

“The days just felt like they were never going to end, so I didn’t want the film to be a rapidly cut, fast paced film,” the director said.

“Because in many ways, I wanted to feel the characters’ impatience or their insecurities with each other to make the film growing,” he added.

Ledesma understood the comments about the film’s pacing, stating that maybe a lot of people are watching it on different devices so they would want what they’re watching faster as Ledesma said he grew up with older films where they took their time.

“Obviously the pace is not for everyone. But what’s been really encouraging is that the people who’ve loved it has been posting messages and writing essays about it, saying that they understand why it’s like that,” he added.

“I think it’s great that the film is being talked about in both ways. So I very much welcome both sides.”

The message

With the rise of elevated horror films such as “The Babadook” or “It Follows,” Ledesma emphasized that the monsters in films are really more about the humanity of the characters in them.

“So for me, with 'Outside,' that’s what I really tried my best to do is make people realize and hopefully shine a light on a very major monster in our country nowadays, which is generational trauma and abuse,” he said.

Ledesma added that generational abuse and trauma are topics that are not well talked about in our culture because of the patriarchal, macho stereotype and that we project images of the “perfect family” to others, even if there are issues that need to be addressed.

“At the end of the day, my hope for the film is that, yes, people will see it as a monster movie, but hopefully see it as something deeper in the sense that we all have monsters inside us,” he said.

“And it’s okay. It’s okay for us to want to fix ourselves so that we can be better for the people that matter, which is our children,” he added.

Ledesma recalled that there is a line in "Outside" in which one of the characters stated that they wanted to fix themselves so that they become a better person, and a better parent to them all. 

“For me that’s the core of the film, it’s like I’m hoping that by watching this, men can acknowledge that it’s okay to have mental insecurities,” he said.

“It’s okay to have emotional issues. But I can fix it. I can try my best to fix it and be better to my family.”

“So I'm crossing my fingers that people can see past the lack of action or the so-called pacing and hopefully they can understand the film for what my team and I intended it to be, which is that,” he added.

What Ledesma sought out to create in 'Outside' was to help people address said generational trauma and abuse, and help it may bring to a group of people to get better as families.

“That’s all I can dream of and that’s all I can really hope for, so if I can do that, that would be great.”