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by Thomas M. Sipos,
managing editor [October 25, 2021]
[HollywoodInvestigator.com]
Max (Tom Wheatley) is a pop
psychologist with a YouTube channel. He's also a huckster and a
showman. He promises quick cures for troubled folk who come on his
show, all to increase his channel's subscribers and likes. He tells
his viewers that he will cure Sarah (Christine Randall) of her
agoraphobia in only ten days! An ambitious goal, because Sarah
hasn't left her house in five
years.
She's
afraid that if she does, Green Eyes will get her.
Green Eyes is a malevolent spirit
that's said to haunt the woods. Which is a bummer, because Sarah's
cottage is right in the middle of the woods. (Why doesn't she move?)
Green Eyes was once a man. Angry
villagers killed him in "the late 18th century." Now he's a sort of
woodland spirit. I would think he'd be a ghost, but no, he's a
woodland spirit. He's said to live in "the Green House." If you enter
his woods, you will get lost and never escape. You just keep walking
until you reach his Green House. (And why is the film called
They're Outside, if it's only just
him?)
Some critics suggest that
They're Outside borrows from
The Wicker Man. Max does attend a pagan parade in town, and there
is talk of tree spirits, but there is little explicit
explanation for Green Eyes. That's not a bad thing. Green Eyes is
mysterious, and thus more frightening. (Although he share traits with
Slender Man, Hat Man, and
especially the pagan
Green Man.
And his Green House in the woods does evoke
Twin Peak's Black Lodge in the woods.)
They're
Outside is a
found footage film, a risky choice because it encourages lazy
filmmaking with sloppy results. Happily, that's not the case here. As
in some of the better found footage films (e.g.
Quarantine,
The Last Exorcism), the protagonists include videographers, using
professional rather than consumer cameras, so we're spared
intentionally sloppy "verite" shots. Camera movements are well
paced and logically motivated. The film is never too static or
jittery, and always there is a rational motivation
within the story for the
camera's placement.
Another wise choice is that
They're Outside is edited
found footage. (Unedited "verite" found footage usually looks
sloppy). Max's interviews with Sarah are intercut with him
interviewing other people, conversations with his girlfriend Nicole
(Nicole Miners), opening credits for his show, an artist's sketches of
Green Eyes, the pagan parade, etc. These inserts lessen any potential
monotony and quicken the pace.
In some ways,
They're Outside follows
The Blair Witch Project template. Max and Sarah end up lost in the
woods (of course), wandering about in the same pitch blackness that
worked so well for
Blair Witch and The Legend of the 5ive.
The ending also borrows from
Blair Witch (and
Quarantine). Yet despite the similarities,
They're Outside has its share of surprises, creepy scenes, and
frightening moments. This is a scary film.
But the film's greatest strength is its
engaging characters, especially Sarah. Randall's portrayal of
Sarah is the film's standout performance. Her character is
multi-layered. Frightened of Green Eyes, mourning the loss of her
daughter, worried about being mocked for her agoraphobia, attracted to
Max, jealous of Nicole. Randall effectively conveys all this through
her hesitant movements, halting speech, downcast eyes, and suspicious
glances. We believe the character and sympathize with her plight.
Max is the main protagonist, suffering
his own deep pain, suppressed beneath his shallow exterior. But I
found Wheatley less convincing. I won't spoil the surprises, but to be
fair, Max travels a longer character arc than does Sarah. He is the
more challenging character for an actor.
Writer Airell Anthony Hayles is to be
commended for creating an intriguing story with
substantive characters. These strengths are shared by
The Last Exorcism, to which They're
Outside bears similarities. Like the Rev. Cotton Marcus, Max is
a showman who disbelieves the supernatural, he brings a camera crew to
record his attempt to disabuse a woman of her belief in the
supernatural, and he is finally overwhelmed by the supernatural.
They're
Outside is a small film -- most of it occurs in Sarah's cottage
and nearby woods -- but it's creepy, scary, and highly entertaining.
Co-directed by Sam Casserly and Airell Anthony Hayles.
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