YMMV / The Outsider

• Cliché Storm: The novel and the series both tread familiar ground for Stephen King:
  • Protagonist with a drinking problem? Check. Deuteragonist with some strange ability or quirk that allows them to identify the supernatural threat before anyone else? Check. Obscure references to literature, classic rock and horror movies? Check.
  • The villain is an ancient, shapeshifting monster whose origins and true nature remain a mystery, and which feeds on both human suffering and human flesh, with a particular fondness for eating children. It also has psychic powers which it can use to manipulate people into doing its bidding. Now are we talking about El Cuco or It?
  • El Cuco also has shades of Randall Flagg, as it's a nomadic Humanoid Abomination that can take on the appearance of other people and presents a Faux Affably Evil face to its enemies (when it isn't trying to scare them).
• Complete Monster: The Outsider itself, "El Cuco", is a sinister monster who preys on suffering. With children as its preferred food source, El Cuco attacks them in the guise of a beloved community figure, rapes and devours them for its own sick pleasure, then frames the one whose form it takes before lingering to enjoy the pain of the community. Infecting proxies to do its bidding and torturing them into compliance, the Outsider attempts to deflect attention by having any cops after it killed, plotting to continue its horrific actions to feed on and enjoy the pain of its victims.
• Narm: While setting up his lookout so he can murder Ralph, Holly and the others, it’s revealed that Jack Hoskins has a sticker on his truck that reads MY OTHER RIDE IS YOUR MOM.
  • In the series, the scene where El Cuco psychically assaults Jack with visions of his abusive mother is supposed to be creepy and disturbing. Instead, watching a paunchy, elderly woman leap across the room like a velociraptor and start pummeling the crap out of a much larger man will probably make most viewers chuckle.
• So Okay, It's Average: The general consensus concerning the series. The novel was a bit better received.

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