The Elixir review
The Elixir is a fun zombie movie wrapped in an unnecessary family drama.
New movie reviews will not contain spoilers.
The Elixir
Directed by Kimo Staamboel
Written by Agasyah Karim, Khalid Kashogi and Kimo Staamboel
Starring Mikha Tambayong, Eva Celia Latjuba, Donny Damara, Marthino Lio, Dimas Anggara and Varren Arianda Calief
The Elixir Review
Netflix has the market cornered when it comes to international horror releases. Often (too often) dropped with little to no fanfare…their selection of new foreign films serves as kind of a hidden treat for horror enthusiasts. The latest if you weren’t looking for it you might never know it existed release comes to us from Indonesia. It’s a zombie flick called The Elixir. If you’re one of those movie viewers who can’t get past the subtitles on foreign language movies…Netflix has you covered. The Elixir can be watched in over 20 different languages. The English dubs on these are usually adequate enough. I recommend watching things in their original language because it the only way to get the actors intended inflections and speech nuances…but I’m not a hardline on it. Whatever gets more horror into people’s eyes is good to me.
Which brings us back to Netflix’s record on foreign horror films. It’s legitimately impressive. If you’re a fan of the genre Netflix delivers several international treats every year. I’m not sure why it isn’t worth them to promote this…it adds genuine value to the subscription for a large group of people. I review horror movies and edit a new release calendar practically every day and sometimes even I miss out on an upcoming Netflix horror drop. I’m not saying they need to go full KPop Demon Hunters with their advertising…but it shouldn’t be nearly as hard to know about these movies as Netflix makes it. Especially during Spooky Season. The Elixir isn’t the best zombie movie you’ll ever see. It tops out at “pretty good”. But, as a mid to late October horror movie release…it fills a need for the genre that people are looking for this time of year.
That’s enough about Netflix’s odd campaign to keep something they’re surprisingly good at from people knowing about it…let’s get into The Elixir.
There are two sides to The Elixir. One works much better than the other. On one side we have a zombie outbreak complete with all the chaos and carnage you expect. A good looking production with quality zombies and plenty of blood. At its best moments, The Elixir achieves a nice pace of zombie action scenes. These are fast zombies…which aren’t everyone’s favorite…but they’re done quite well.
On the other side we have a family drama that doesn’t work much at all. The Elixir feels like it misses the starter’s pistol and hangs around the starting line for a while. It wants to establish its characters and their relationships…and gives that nearly thirty full minutes. At which point…if you had started caring about any of the people it bogs down the movie trying to get you to care about…you’ll probably stop anyway. In part because the zombie outbreak is very well done…in part because the characters just aren’t that interesting.
International horror movies tend to overstay their welcome. While I admire the way Asian horror in particular strives to deliver full dramatic narratives…many films would work better stripped down to their core attributes. As a ninety minute movie about a zombie outbreak…The Elixir would probably fly. As a two hour movie about a family’s drama amidst a zombie outbreak…The Elixir remains too grounded. It’s not really the movie’s fault. There are certain expectations with horror from different regions. It probably plays better natively than in the west…because we’ve been conditioned to expect less effort on characters and more fast cuts and jump scares. Which is also why so many US releases are underwhelming. But that’s a topic for a different day.
The core issue with character drama in horror has always been that it is difficult to match the tones. Many great movies have done it. Both internationally and domestically. The Exorcist is a premiere example. One of the most respected horror films ever made…it spends more time on the relationship between a mother and daughter…and the struggle of a priest who has lost his faith…than watching a demon spin its head around. But it is incredibly effective. And incredibly hard to replicate.
A more modern case that is even more comparable would be 28 Years Later. Another movie driven by character drama…this time, like The Elixir, with zombies. 28 Year Later is a great movie. The Elixir is a pretty good one. The difference is that you care far more about the people in Danny Boyle’s movie. But…there is more zombie action in The Elixir. While it can’t marry the two as well as better films…The Elixir does have the zombie chops to pull of a fun time. In its case…the dramatic character beats drag them down. 28 Years Later uses zombie scenes to add to what’s working. The Elixir’s drama gets in the way of what’s working. That’s the difference between great and pretty good. But pretty good is good enough in a Spooky Season that has often felt like a letdown of fun horror offerings.
I suppose the plot of the movie deserves some kind of mention. Basically, an elixir turns people into zombies and the virus spreads quickly. The patriarch of the family we spend time with doesn’t want to sell his company…and everyone is mad at him. He’s been using this elixir, and it turns him into a zombie. He’s also married to his daughter’s lifelong best friend…so there’s a lot to unpack there. Unfortunately, unpacking it is what keeps The Elixir from achieving more. Heart to heart phone calls with your best friend about how her replacing your mother hurt you…well…they don’t mix with zombie’s eating people and widescale carnage. Especially when it’s doing the latter well enough to succeed on its own.
Scare Value
The Elixir has enough fun moments to make for a worthwhile time. It gets in their way too often to deliver anything more than that. There’s a constant push and pull between action you enjoy and character drama that you don’t. This isn’t the only horror movie to deal with this kind of issue…it’s just the latest one. We rarely care about the humans in a Kaiju movie. We’ve rarely cared less about them in a zombie movie.
2.5/5
The Elixir Link
Streaming on Netflix
