My quick rating – 5.4/10. The Elixir, originally released as Abadi Nan Jaya, doesn’t waste a second before unleashing its undead mayhem. The movie literally opens with a car plowing into a party, never a great sign for the hors d’oeuvres, only for the shocked crowd to discover that the driver is already dead. Or undead. Or somewhere in between, depending on how you classify “still trying to bite someone while missing half a jaw.”
I watched the dubbed version that recently popped up on Netflix, and for what it’s worth, it’s perfectly serviceable for a zombie flick that’s more interested in momentum than nuance. The premise is surprisingly simple but nicely twisted, where a father invents an elixir that makes you look younger for a couple of hours, then promptly turns you into a bloodthirsty corpse. So basically, the world’s worst anti-aging serum works great until you crave femurs.
The story centers on a fractured family forced to work together as their village falls apart around them. The spread of the infection plays out slowly within their own home, and once the family unit starts cracking, the community follows right behind. One couple’s attempt to escape eventually loops around to the opening party crash, giving the movie a neat little circular structure.
The zombies themselves aren’t quite classic Romero shufflers. They’ve got that “infected” aesthetic—glazed eyes, blistered skin, and an aggressive lack of moisturizer. The makeup team deserves credit because the grim, wet look sells the threat. And director Kimo Stamboel isn’t shy about spraying arterial red all over the set once these things sink their teeth in. A few sequences are impressively staged, especially an overhead shot of survivors stranded on a police station roof as the undead swarm below. Stamboel uses these top-down moments to hammer home just how doomed this village really is.
Worldbuilding gets… creative. This is apparently a reality where no one has ever even heard of zombies, so everyone takes a while to catch on. In other words, expect some really bad decisions. These creatures are drawn to noise but become mesmerized by rain, which makes for at least one unintentionally funny moment of everyone standing around waiting for weather salvation. Also, prepare yourself to hear the word “Sir” more times than in a military boot camp and it gets repetitive fast. And yes, the movie genuinely deploys a couple of hundred dollars’ worth of fireworks as weapons. I guess in Indonesia, you can’t buy explosives the way we buy milk.
Despite the bloodshed, there’s an emotional core underneath the carnage, and the film makes room for one of those triumphant, music-swelling moments you know is coming. It’s a solid effort, but Indonesia’s real horror strengths still live in their ghost stories, such as Satan’s Slaves, The Devil’s Lair, and all the nightmare fuel that doesn’t rely on hordes of the undead. The Elixir is far from bad, but it doesn’t quite reach the terror highs its home country is capable of. We’ll see how the sequel fares since the lead-in is clear as day.
