as much as the monster, the father. Outside is a movie based on a family's struggle, and the decline of said family against the backdrop of a zombie outbreak.

The father's childhood trauma, and subsequent c-PTSD, and his knowledge of his wife's 'secret' with his older brother is the core of the storyline.

His wife is the mother to 2 sons, the latter of which, is the father's biological son. The wife warily navigates her husband's animosity towards her.

By just over the halfway point in the movie, the father has already sabotaged his family thrice. Deliberately withholding info and lying about said info, and burning a map his brother had left with him of the possible Camp the wife and oldest son had mentioned earlier. When that 'scene' during the Christmas dinner is shown the viewer knows the father has completely lost all reasoning and is on the edge of madness.

The movie is about the family. Their relationships with one another. It isn't about the zombies. The family's failed struggle IS the basis of Outside. The movie could have survived without the zombie outbreak as a plot/plots. I wouldn't recommend this to anyone unless they're into intense family dynamics that aren't resolved amicably.

ps. The focus on the father's 'item' from his father was especially poignant. Time, for the father, once he was back in his childhood home, had stood still.

pss. The zombies shown on screen were much better portrayed than the movie poster, and yes, they can talk. Their utterances rasped with their concerns or fears in their zombie state.