“The Elixir,” an Indonesian horror movie directed by Kimo Stamboel (who is known for his work in Indonesian horror films), where we are dropped into the heart of rural Java, was released on October 23rd of this year and hit the top ten on Netflix in
less than two days.
By October 25, two days after the movie was released, it had already claimed the top spot on Netflix’s global viewership charts, and achieved this with no Rotten Tomatoes score. Instead, it relied on audience buzz to drive its popularity.
Many started watching the movie, as well as leaving reviews along with it. However, most of the reviews focused on how unhappy they were with the movie, causing people who were planning to watch it to be driven away.
This movie is about an elixir, which is a liquid that is a mythical potion for immortality that initially promises youth. However, it ends up unleashing the undead (zombies) in a village.
A family that has odds with one another has no other choice but to come together in a fight that takes more than survival instincts to survive the triggering zombie outbreak as their hometown collapses.
Many viewers believe that the best part about the movie is how realistic the zombies are, as well as how terrific their moves are, and how good the makeup is. The amount of gore, violence, and the unrealisticness of the characters were also heavy topics when it came to this movie.
Critics claimed that the movie was boring and unwatchable.
One critic stated, “It was at least 30 minutes too long, which is common these days. Not great, but if you fast forward through the ‘drama, ‘ it is watchable. The zombies were great, and the stuntmen did some very good work as zombies, some of the best I have seen. Think of it as one of the old Jackie Chan movies, and watch it for the action, not the plot, and you can have a good time with it.”
This quote explains exactly how this critic feels a certain way about the timing as well as the plot, describing that the movie contains good visuals but an overused storyline. Due to the number of viewers who gave this movie a bad rating, many who haven’t watched it refuse to watch it. Many talked about how excited they were to watch it, but after seeing the reviews, they decided not to.
A critic stated, “I think I’ve attempted to watch this one around 6 times now. Each time, I last about 5 minutes and turn it off. Absolute drivel.” It was also compared to other zombie shows and movies, such as The Walking Dead and All of Us Are Dead. The movie itself had a great plot that has a lot of potential; however, it is a bold, localized zombie saga where the bad outweighs the good.