Jason Bateman Goes Full Creep in HBO’s ‘The Outsider’ Premiere

HBO’s The Outsider is a harrowing look at how one crime causes a town to unravel, but with all the supernatural punch of a creepy Stephen King story. It also provides star, executive producer, and director Jason Bateman with an opportunity to go full creep. His bloody scene in The Outsider Episode 1 “Fish in a Barrel” will haunt you forever, and make you rethink everything you think you know about the Ozark and Arrested Development star.

Based on King’s 2018 novel of the same name, The Outsider hinges on a horrific crime in a small town. When a young boy named Frankie Peterson is found brutally murdered and violated in the woods, a surprising suspect emerges. Multiple witnesses and DNA evidence place a beloved Little League coach named Terry Maitland (Jason Bateman) at the scene of the crime. This avalanche of evidence encourages local Detective Ralph Anderson (Ben Mendelsohn) to arrest Maitland in a showy scene that instantly ruins his family’s life.

Complicating the story? For all the surveillance footage, eye witness accounts, and hard evidence putting Maitland at the scene of the crime, he has proof he was at a teacher’s conference hours away at the exact same time of the murder. Since this is a Stephen King story, this contradiction in evidence naturally leads Det. Anderson down a dark and winding path. Is Terry guilty? Is he innocent? Can a man be two places at once?

Putting this central quandary aside, The Outsider‘s most chilling moment so far comes courtesy of Jason Bateman. When Det. Anderson interviews a little girl named Junie, she recalls seeing Mr. Maitland next to a white van by the local park. We see the scene through her eyes and see Bateman’s face literally covered in blood, as if he was just devouring a carcass.

The whole moment is horrifying, not least because as a director, Bateman ratchets up the tension by filling the soundtrack with an awful wall of discordant noise. He uses cuts to pull away from the van and then cut closer to his character. Acting-wise, Bateman stares blankly at the girl, and towards camera. It’s as if his soul has been wiped clean from his body. Then, Bateman fixes the camera behind Junie’s perspective as the white van pulls out of its parking spot, and his bloodied visage swings back into frame. His eyes are coldly fixed on Junie, and now he is closer than before. It is, again, terrifying.

It’s also a testament to the range that Bateman has been able to finally exhibit in projects like this and Ozark. For years, Bateman was best known as comedic actor, specializing in charming sitcom roles and everyman parts. Ozark has allowed him to play with his dramatic side, both as a performer and Emmy-winning director. The Outsider, though, lets him go full creep, with devastating effect. Without this chilling scene, the rest of the concept might fall flat. Bateman needs to make you believe that the man the girl saw is not only the killer, but a killer lurking underneath the avuncular Coach Terry’s skin. Without this shocking moment, nothing else works. Not the mystery, not the story, and certainly not the shock of what happens to Terry midway through The Outsider Episode 2…

The Outsider Episode 3 premieres on HBO next Sunday, January 19.

Where to stream The Outsider