Diksha Sundriyal
Netflix’s zombie survival thriller, ‘Outside,’ follows the story of a family whose quest for survival leads them to an old family farm. The patriarch, Francis, left the farm and his parents behind a very long time ago. Due to the bad memories associated with the place, he never thought he would come back to the place, but now, it seems that the farm might be the very thing that they call home. As things get crazier outside, the situation also worsens at the farm. Francis’ wife, Iris, thinks that they should leave the place and find someplace that is not only safer but also has other people. His sons, Josh and Lucas, also agree on this point, but Francis is dead set against it. It is this obstinacy that eventually turns the situation direr for the family. SPOILERS AHEAD
Why Didn’t Francis Want to Leave the Farm?
When the film begins, the world has already been taken over by the zombie apocalypse. Escaping their lives in the city, Francis and his family somehow find their way to the farm where Francis’ parents used to live. When they reach there, Francis discovers that his father killed himself after he was infected, while his mother turned into a zombie. After shooting his mother to death and burying both his parents in a sugarcane field, Francis begins to fortify the place that he believes could be their new home despite the haunting memories of the place.
Over time, it is revealed that Francis’ intention is more about quarantining his family rather than finding a truly safe space for them. He doesn’t seem to mind that they are living off of sugarcane from the fields and barely have anything to sustain them. Soon, whatever food they have will run out, leaving no other option but to leave the place. However, Francis’ determination to stay at the farm gets stronger with each day. He gets so desperate to keep the family there that he starts to concoct lies. When his brother, Diego, who had an affair with Iris years ago, comes back to help, Francis drives him away. Moreover, he lies to Iris and his sons that Diego is dead and doesn’t tell them about the map Diego left for them to follow so that they can get to the military camp safely.
To scare his family, Francis makes it look like the zombies are everywhere. He bans them from leaving the farm, claiming that the outbreak has gotten worse and one step out of the house could lead to their deaths. The reason that he is so adamant about keeping them all at the farm is that he is so scared of losing them that it has messed with his brain. Before the outbreak, Francis’ life was already in shambles. Iris didn’t love him anymore and she was planning to leave him. But then, the zombies came around, and the whole world changed. Francis saw this as the opportunity to mend the relations with his wife, but he was too blind to see that things had already deteriorated so much that they could never be salvaged.
Is Francis Dead?
By the end of the film, Francis gets so desperate to keep his family together that he makes some very harsh decisions. When a soldier from the nearby camp ends up at their door, his family sees it as the opportunity to finally leave the farm. Josh is the first one to take his leave in the middle of the night, not just because he wants to find a safer place but also because he is tired of his father, who he knows is not his biological father, treating him badly all this while. In the morning, when Francis discovers that Josh has run away, he loses whatever control he has over his sanity so far.
Francis kills the soldier, who is completely healthy and could have taken them to the camp. Moreover, he attacks Iris and locks her and Lucas in the basement. The irony of the situation is not lost on him. What he is doing to his wife and child is exactly what his father used to do to him. Francis has painful memories of his time in the basement, but that doesn’t stop him from thinking twice about his own actions. Eventually, Iris and Lucas find a way to get out of the basement, locking Francis there. But then, things get worse when a zombie enters the picture. Desperate to save his family, Francis breaks down the door and kills the zombie. However, he discovers that his son has been bitten.
While Francis watches helplessly, Iris cuts off Lucas’ arm to prevent the spread of the virus. If she didn’t do it, the virus would have turned Lucas into a zombie. Losing a hand seemed far better than that. However, the amputation also means that he will need medical care, which means they will have to leave the house now. When Iris tells him to get the car, Francis jumps to action immediately. He had abandoned the car at the bridge months ago when they’d tried to leave the place. When he reaches there, he is so out of breath that he cannot speak for a moment. He finds Josh there with a gun in his hand, but the boy is so scared that he fires a shot at Francis. With no help in sight, Francis bleeds out at the bridge. It seems that he had accepted his fate. He also acknowledges Josh as his son, which means that despite his anger about Iris’ affair with Diego, he really did care for Josh like his own son. Soon enough, he breathes his last and dies on the bridge, which is where Josh leaves him, driving away in the car.
What Happens to Josh? Does He Return to the Farm?
As his father becomes more adamant about keeping them at the farm, Josh becomes increasingly desperate to leave it. At first, he is scared of leaving alone because of the zombies. However, when the soldier shows up and tells them that there aren’t many zombies between the farm and the camp, Josh becomes more confident and decides to leave. When he leaves at night, it takes him a lot of time to reach the bridge and find the car. We don’t know what happens to him in the meantime, but considering everything, it is clear that he has escaped a zombie or two. He is terrified of the world around him, but he is even more terrified of his father and being dragged back to the farm. This is why, when, the next night, Francis shows up at the bridge, Josh has no idea how to handle the situation.
Because Francis doesn’t want anyone to leave the farm and has already started to lose his mind before Josh leaves, the teenager thinks that his father is angry at him for running away and has come to take him back. He has no idea of the events that have transpired at the farm and that his brother needs his help. Francis has run so far so fast that he is completely out of breath and cannot communicate the situation to his son. While Josh contemplates how to escape his father, the panic leads him to fire a shot, which hits Francis. Josh is immediately sorry for his actions, but he also knows that Francis cannot be saved. This means that Josh can take the car and find the camp without worrying about Francis coming after him and trapping him in the camp forever. However, he also has his family to think about.
It doesn’t take much for Josh to realize that if Francis has left the farm, his mother and brother are stuck there. All the blood on Francis, which was on him before Josh shot him, proves that something very untoward has happened. The blood might even have led Josh to believe that, in his madness, Francis has done something to Iris and Lucas. This is why his first instinct is to reverse the car and go back to the farm to find his mother and brother and save them. Once that happens, they can all drive further north and find the camp the soldier and Diego had told them about. There is much more for him to discover once he returns to the farm, but it also sparks hope for their survival.
What Happens to Iris and Lucas? Do They Survive?
Throughout the film, Iris has had to make some very difficult decisions. She was ready to leave Francis but had to stay with him when the zombie apocalypse happened. Her sons were the reason she stuck with her husband, whom she didn’t love anymore. However, things just got worse, and it’s not that she didn’t see it coming. This is why, when Josh tells her that he is running away from the farm, she doesn’t stop him. She would have liked to run away with him, but she had Lucas to look after. Moreover, there was a soldier in their house and she’d hoped that he would help them. But then, Francis completely loses his mind, kills the soldier, and locks her and Lucas in the basement.
With this, all doubts about leaving the farm are erased from Iris’s mind. With Lucas’ help, she tricks Francis such that they get out of the basement, but he is locked there. She is ready to leave, but then Diego, who has turned into a zombie, shows up. She is unable to fend off the attack and fights just enough to keep herself from being bitten. She would have died had Francis not broken the basement door and killed Diego. However, with Francis now free, things would get even worse than they were before. She knows what is going to happen next, but then Lucas reveals that he has been bitten.
As a nurse, it doesn’t take much for Iris to know exactly what needs to be done. She amputates Lucas’ hand before the virus can spread to his body and turn him into a zombie. However, this also means that he needs to be taken to the hospital as he has lost a lot of blood. If he doesn’t receive care in time, he will bleed to death, but there is nothing that Iris can do but wait. Francis leaves to get the car, and Iris holds her son while the life seeps out of him. With Francis dead at the bridge, Lucas’ fate seems to be sealed, but then, a light appears outside the house. The light is from the car that Josh has driven home. This means that help has finally arrived, though in a rather unexpected form. Now, Lucas is in a very delicate situation, and he needs immediate help, but with the car, he has a chance to reach the camp where he can get the medical attention he so desperately needs. While the clock is ticking on his survival, there is hope for him and his family.
Read More: Netflix’s Outside: Exploring All Filming Locations
