- AKA “Abadi Nan Jaya”
- Directed by: Kimmo Stambel
- Written by: Agasyah Karim, Khalid Kashogi, Kimo Stamboel
- Stars: Mikha Tambayong, Eva Celia Latjuba, Donny Damara
- Run Time: 1 Hour, 56 Minutes
- Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XL48F7LGoig
Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone
It’s a frenetic attack of fast zombies that only has a short interval of getting to know some characters before it starts going full tilt. The effects and action sequences are all excellent. There isn’t a lot that’s very new here, but it’s well made and entertaining.
Spoilery Synopsis
We open on a big party for a circumcision ceremony. Ningsih and her boyfriend argue over him proposing or not. He’s about to do it when the phone rings. He has to go back to work and promises to return then. Suddenly a car comes out of nowhere and crashes the party– literally. At first, they think the driver is drunk, but no, he’s a zombie. Credits roll.
Five hours earlier, The herbalist company makes some kind of new “medicine” and sends it to the boss by motorcycle courier. The courier drives through the place where they’re setting up the party for later. He arrives at the boss’s house with his sample.
Rud, Nes, and Han talk about a business arrangement with her father, Sadimin. Meanwhile, Karina talks to Kenes, the boss, about his “sample” from the lab. She wants to go on another honeymoon with him. Nes won’t speak with Karina, and hasn’t for the past three years. Little Han complains to his uncle that his parents are always fighting; Rud runs the company for her father, who is retiring. The uncle, Bambang, seems to have a lot of guns in his bedroom.
Sadimin looks in the mirror after his sample, and he looks quite a bit younger– it works! As he has sex with his young wife, we see something nasty growing on his back. He then decides he doesn’t want to sell his company, which annoys Rud and Ical, who were hoping for a big payout. This new product, this elixir, changes everything!
As the family argues, Sadimin begins to throb and pulse. Soon, he’s screaming and puking all over. Everyone panics that the old man is dead, but then he sits up, fully zombified, and eats one of the servants. No, two of the servants. By the time he attacks Bambang, the rest of the family tries to intervene. The old man ends up getting shot through the head with an arrow.
The surviving servant, Aris, gets in the car to go report what happened. He’s covered in blood that Sadiman vomited all over him and looks like he got bit.
Back at the house, the dead servant, Pardi, also gets up, and he’s not looking good at all. As Nes and Bambang sit in the car, things spiral out of control behind them. When they go back inside, there’s blood and nastiness everywhere.
Meanwhile, Aris is fully infected in the car, leading to what we saw in the opening scene. Soon, the partygoers are all infected.
All the characters we know call each other and agree to meet at the chief’s house. Turns out, that’s where the party was, and by now, it’s all gotten way out of hand. Nes and Bang drive up and see what’s happening, but Rud, Karina, and Han are trapped inside the house. Bang drives the car away, leading the group of zombies away from the house– right into town.
Meanwhile, Rudi’s been bitten, and Karina and Han try to patch him up while hiding in an old farmhouse. Rudi knows he’s doomed and says goodbye to his son.
Bang and Nes arrive at the police station and try to explain what happened. Karina and Han meet Ningsih, who seems to be the only survivor from the party. The four mostly unarmed cops then go outside to investigate and end up joining the herd.
Ningsih’s boyfriend, Rahman, is the last remaining cop, and he ends up barricaded inside the police station with Nes and Bang. He calls for reinforcements, but they get wiped out as well. Nes and Karina call each other on the phone and make up for their prior arguments.
Rahman remembers that they have tons of fireworks that the police station has confiscated; maybe they can use those as a distraction. They’ve also got plenty of large guns and riot gear inside with them. They make a run for it, but it’s not as easy as it sounds. The only thing that saves them is a thunderstorm; the rain seems to put them all into a trance.
Meanwhile, Ningsih, Han, and Karina get out of the barn on a motorcycle, with zombie-Rudi in pursuit. Soon, most of the characters are together, trapped inside a truck. They end up driving right through the police station. Ningsih and Rahman get bitten, and Bang gets pinned by the truck. Rudi shows up and it’s a hand-to-hand battle between him and whoever’s left. Rahman finally proposes to Ningsih as they both die, and then Bang goes out with a… Bang!
Kenes, Karina, and Han get out during the explosion. Nes finds that’s she been bit and says she can’t come with the other two. She then walks off into a field and shoots herself.
Karina and Han ride the motorbike off into the countryside as the sun rises. We also see that the zombies are still following them.
We cut to the city, where Sadmin’s business partner receives the second sample of the new medicine. His wife suddenly looks so much younger…
Brian’s Commentary
Untested, unapproved herbal medicine. What could go wrong?
This one is Indonesian, and we don’t see much from there. That’s good because they were really able to take their time on the creature effects. It starts off like a soap opera with a family business and quickly goes in a whole new direction with the elixir.
It’s a little long, but it never drags. Overall, it’s pretty good!
Kevin’s Commentary
Once a fast zombie outbreak starts, it would be mighty hard to stop. As the folks in this movie find out. And just what the heck was in that herbal concoction they were selling?
I appreciated that this one gets to the action quickly and pretty much keeps going steadily with it. It’s very well made and entertaining in that fast zombie kind of way.
I’ve noticed that a necessary ingredient for characters’ reactions in this kind of movie is that they live in a universe where zombie movies don’t exist, so they have never seen one. It would be interesting to see a movie like this one where they have all seen movies like this one such as “Train to Busan” and “World War Z.”
I’d say that I liked it.
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