It feels like Asian filmmakers that delve into the zombie genre these days are often attempting to capture the familial, emotional depth of Train to Busan, as is the case with these two flicks. Did either of them pull it off? Let’s find out.
THE ELIXIR (2025)
This Indonesian film introduces us to a family that owns and runs an herbal business, but they’re all at odds with each other over whether to keep the business or sell it. On top of that, the interpersonal dysfunction runs deep among them.
Then the dad discovers a concoction that works wonders in turning back the hands of time like a fountain of youth…until the family discovers the really bad side effects in the midst of a big shouting match.
Once dad goes viral, so does everyone else, quite quickly. The zombies are gnarly looking, fast runners, have creaking joints, and make heinous sounds. As soon as the infection spreads thanks to some bloody flesh-eating, the family scatters.
The movie becomes about each separate group trying to fight their way back to each other. Luckily, they all have phones to stay in touch and cars with which they can cream zombies, yet they still get their asses kicked.
The action is high energy, but there’s not much in the way of scares, and it’s hard to care about the family for most of the movie since they didn’t even seem to like each other that much.
However, the final act is pretty devastating as they all begin to succumb to the outbreak, and there’s an absolutely intense scene in which police in gear with shields decide to attempt passing through a zombie horde, only to be swarmed instead. Eek!
ZIAM (2025)
This Thai film leans heavily into a zombies vs. action hero angle.
After reports of famine, greenhouse emissions, and climate change devastation, we learn that the apocalypse is already here.
An infected victim is brought to a hospital, and the outbreak kicks in soon after. These fast-running zombies have huge, freaky mouths and do plenty of gut munching.
Our cute main guy is a seasoned fighter, so he takes it upon himself to try to reach his girlfriend, who is a doctor in the hospital. Along the way, he runs into a young boy who decides to tag along. This kid reminded me of all the annoying, badly dubbed kids from 80s euro horror, so naturally, I loved him.
The goal becomes for our leading man to fight his way through hordes of zombies in an effort to rescue the girlfriend and get the hell out, so he taps into his martial arts skills to wipe the hospital floor with them. He also has to contend with a police force that has been ordered to kill everyone in hopes of stopping the infection from spreading.
The action is fun enough, and the zombie makeup rocks, but again, we don’t get a scary experience, and the attempts to tug at our heartstrings don’t quite succeed. Not to mention, pretty much everything about this film is cliché, and the final moments are about as close as you can get to the conclusion of pretty much every Resident Evil game without actually making a movie adaptation of a Resident Evil video game.
Despite the lack of scares and the underwhelming emotional storylines in both of these films, this makes a damn good double feature of high speed zombie fun.
