The Outside is a loose adaptation, almost a reinterpretation of Emily Carroll's webcomic Some Other Animal's Meat. It's directed by Ana Lily Amirpour, known primarily for A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night (I'm due for a rewatch), and stars Kate Micucci, known for Garfunkel and Oates as well as various comedy roles.

I'm actually not entirely sure why I bring all this up. I think the high-profile collaborative effort between women for this project is worth noting, but truthfully the adaptation feels incomplete and the difference in tone could end up feeling inconsistent with a biased mindset going in. Is it going for a satirical angle for the sake of punching up, or pointing out flaws in certain ways of thinking, or is it going more for straight comedy and using the satirical elements as an easy-in for horror? Kind of all of the above? I think what feels so strange is just how much the story changes from the original webcomic to this short film. I read the webcomic after I watched the film, which gave me some pause and second thoughts. The webcomic deals with being unheard in a fully tragic way, but the tragedy portrayed in the film is an almost full step removed from realism, definitely still empathetic but lacking the gut punch. I'm not sure it's the responsibility of an adaptor to adhere to intention of the text, I just found myself at different conclusions from both versions. I wasn't sure what to make of it, but even with that said, I'm here to review the film, not the webcomic.

I loved this for what it was with no pretense. It's a delightful exploration and satirization of feminine beauty standards with just enough on-the-nose camp to always feel like it's intending to keep things light despite the otherwise sinister and troubling aspects. Micucci's performance is wonderful as the doting "ugly duckling" type who wants to be seen as beautiful, as is Martin Starr as her husband Keith, an ignorant and unassuming man who believes he has good intentions but always says and does the wrong thing, who is also, appropriately, a cop. Stacey (Micucci) is a bank teller by day who works with women she admires for their beauty who all talk shit about their husbands and use fancy lotion, and a taxidermy hobbyist by night. The moment I saw what could only be understood by my filmmaker-liker's brain as a Psycho reference was the moment I knew I loved this film. It didn't and doesn't matter to me if it's far more ham-fistedly metaphorical than even Hitchcock's use of taxidermy for Bates' wish to preserve the dead in a state that one could perceive as living. Here, Stacey is willing to replace the insides of a once living thing with something fake and hollow if it means retaining a certain sense of beauty in perpetuity. She ascends to golden heights of beauty just as the mallard does. It's worth noting that she does not use the meat of the animals she kills for taxidermy, instead opting to eat microwaved frozen meals. The waste of excess is just an obstacle to the goals of beauty.

Stacey embodies a certain type of neurotic who always wants to fit in, but she falls victim to the social pressures instead of finding a way out. Dan Stevens plays the fun late night infomercial guy who hocks this sham product, but if I had to pick a downside, it would kind of be this. His performance is great, but the implied otherworldliness of his character and the blurring lines of reality the film goes for doesn't quite stick the landing. It could be the case the question is deliberate: is this really happening, or is it all in her head? Unless you are watching Perfect Blue, I truly believe this to be a bad question to ask, and even worse if this a question I am being prompted to ask. It's kind of too hard to tell with The Outside, which is something I don't like. I'm not asking for things to be more definitive, necessarily, I would have just preferred the psychological angle to have more of a contrast with the rest of the film.

As it stands, the entire film is absurd. It feels like a Tim & Eric's Bedtime Stories episode, and I mean this sincerely as a compliment. Stacey and Keith's relationship is lensed as a sort of Coen brothers' inspired, perfectly American, nominal but earnest romance. They do love each other, but they don't understand how to love each other. Their conversations alone had me hootin' 'n' hollerin' with a realistic Midwestern charm. It alone is what makes the downfall worth taking seriously as a tragedy at all because of what lovely times are lost, but at the same time it's so clearly going for comedy that seeing things end fills me more with a sense of "aw, what a shame" than true horror. This is fine, I think The Outside does a good balancing act when it comes to the comedic stuff. That alone is what prompted me to give this such a high rating. After that dear rat boy short I was worried that another horror-comedy might turn me right off, but this one came in and swooped me off my feet.

Did I like this more than The Autopsy? Well, no, despite the ratings. But also my answer is not yes. They are just too different to compare in a "like more" sense, and honestly what a refreshing thing to say. Guillermo del Toro's Cabinet of Curiosities is turning out to be a great time, allowing such impressive individualistic expression of the horror genre. Even the ones I don't like I'm glad were included. The more the merrier.