Director: Kerry Anne Mullaney (Amazon.com)
Horror themes: zombie, low budget, outbreak, farm, remote, character study, virus
Synopsis of The Dead Outside
A neurological pandemic has consumed the Scottish countryside. Drug resistance has mutated the virus into a ravaging psychological plague, rendering the ‘the dying’ desperate, paranoid, and violent. Two survivors end up sharing an isolated farmhouse under desperate circumstances: April, a mysterious young girl who has survived alone for months; and Daniel, a desperate and bereaved man clinging desperately to hope. When a third person appears on the remote farm – a woman who seems to take to Daniel – they are confronted with a new enemy even deadlier than the one beyond the perimeter.
Although not the most action-packed zombie movie, The Dead Outside is a well done low budget/ B affair. (Technically speaking, this is not a zombie movie, per se: the protagonists have not risen from death. It’s a viral infection.) The project really does work, but not everyone will enjoy it. The Dead Outside is definitely worth a watch for the true fan of zombie horror; I’d suggest that others learn a little more about this movie before diving in.
The Dead Outside is more of a character study than most zombie-style flicks and does not follow a standard walking dead (or in this case, walking infected) horror movie plot.
The Dead Outside is one of many movies that blurs the line – technically speaking – between zombie horror and virus/disease outbreak horror. From a technical standpoint, it is a virus outbreak and not a walking dead or resurrection situation. This is one area that adds some wrinkles to my efforts in horror movie & horror theme categorization. Other horror movies that blur the line between zombie horror and virus horror:
- 28 Days Later
- 28 Weeks Later
- The Crazies
- Quarantine
– Great – but not as good as the original, [REC]
- Quarantine 2: Terminal
(2011)
The Dead Outside would be more accurately described as zombie-style horror (as opposed to Zombie horror). Perhaps I should change the Zombie horror category to Zombie-style horror, which would include two sub-categories of Undead and Virus/disease.
Trying to create bullet-proof categories for supernatural horror movies has proven difficult.
Resources: The Dead Outside (Zombie-style horror movie)
- The Dead Outside (2008)
- The Dead Outside, official site
- Mothcatcher Films, blog posts about The Dead Outside
- The Dead Outside, IMDb (Rating: 4.5/10)
- The Dead Outside – Movie Trailer, YouTube
- The Dead Outside, Wikipedia
Reviews of The Dead Outside (2008 U.K. horror)
Should zombie horror movies be included in the realm of supernatural horror? That is, are zombies supernatural? Are zombie movies supernatural movies? (My answer, obviously, is Yes.)
- Answer one: Sort of. One could argue that the undead, or the walking dead, is a supernatural phenomenon. (I sure hope it is.)
- Answer two: Not really – especially when the culprit is actually a viral infection as opposed to the literal undead.
- Answer three: Hell no – and your blog sux!