MASTERING THE ART OF FEAR

HOW DID NETFLIX PHILIPPINES' "Outside" fare in terms of viewership outside of the Philippines?

- By NATHALIE TOMADA

In its debut week following the Oct. 17 world premiere on the international streaming platform, Carlo Ledesma's zombie-themed film—which is more about the "monsters among us"—landed at No. 1 on Netflix Philippines and No. 4 among non-English films worldwide, with 19,100,000 total hours viewed. It became part of the Top 10 in 45 countries, most of which are in Latin America.

In its second week, "Outside" remained in Netflix's Top 5 non-English titles globally with 11,200,000 hours viewed.

Is a sequel (or a prequel) now possible more than ever? Its director previously hinted to this paper that the origins of the zombie outbreak could be explained in future films. But that would depend on how well "Outside" performed on the streamer.

"It all depends, I guess, on how this one does worldwide. So sana magustuhan, and hopefully, we'll see what Netflix decides," direk Carlo told The STAR.

Meanwhile, we can debate all we want about the zombies or the lack thereof in "Outside," but there's no arguing the acting showdown courtesy of its main cast. Sid Lucero, Beauty Gonzalez, Marco Masa and Aiden Patdu portrayed the family unit trying to survive both the toxic household drama and zombie apocalypse.

Scenes that we believe will linger for many years to come include the dinner scene where Sid's character, Francis—the family patriarch in a downward spiral into madness—acts cheerfully, going about business as usual in a Christmas sweater, while putting his family on edge. There's that scene where Beauty's character desperately chops off her son's infected arm to save his life—a scene that reportedly required about 30 takes and input from a real surgeon. Then there's Marco, whose scenes with Sid are riveting, from the tense lesson on firing a gun to their final, tragic interaction. That offered a hint of redemption, a small glimmer of closure for the generational trauma Francis experienced firsthand and had inflicted on his own son.