But Outside takes too long to make its point, and by the time we learn where the director is headed, the amount of zombie limbs, guts, and decapitations we have seen might be too much for us to want to keep watching.

It’s been spectacularly well acted -- this sort of subtlety is almost unknown in horror -- and the two-hour-plus running time zips by.

There are shades of brilliance throughout, as the family-drama aspect manages to outshine the apocalyptic backdrop. The beginning takes far too long to get anywhere interesting, yet the finale is filled with thrills.

Smart Filipino zombie-fest focuses on family, not the shuffling undead.