“Don’t worry about the reason behind all this, what’s important is a solution!”

Story: When the head of Wani Waras herbal treatments tries their new elixir on himself, it works. He’s younger! But those side effects will kill you. You, and anyone unlucky to be in biting distance. But good news – you won’t be down for long. You won’t be alive anymore, but you won’t be down. Success! Now, to let his awful adult children know… Hey, what’s that weird rash?

Scares: Creepy looking zombies. Tense situations.
Splat Factor:  Blood AND guts. But a lot of the blood is black, so it’s not as icky as it could have been.

Subgenre: Untested New “Remedy” = Zombies
Year Released: 2025
Remake, Sequel or OG (Original Ghoul)?: Original

Trick or Treat?: No, this is not a sequel to The Substance. It’s more like Succession meets Ziam. Except if their premises vanished less than halfway through, and were replaced by absolutely nothing.

The basics here are solid, though. I loved the infection, but it may be particularly uncomfortable for folks with trichophobia. Holes form all over the body, as pores enlarge and abscess. It’s a cool original look, and the makeup FX really sells it. The gory special effects are great too, with just enough ooky stuff to keep things interesting, without spoiling the immersion. The zombie performers give it their all, with a creepy physicality, and attack choreography that harks back to World War Z and the 28 Days Later series. Sound design adds deliciously disgusting creaks and pops from the zombies, along with crackly screams.

Which brings me to the downer part of my review. Elixir doesn’t seem to know what to do with their characters, or how to make them engaging. Half of them are insufferable idiots, and the other half get absolutely no respect, turning into side characters that are tossed aside. Yes, it’s a zombie movie, so characters are supposed to get got. But when there’s nobody to root for, or the ones who seem interesting get endings that are lackluster at best? It becomes a dull affair.

That Elixir could have easily had 20 minutes whacked off, to make a tighter, more enjoyable film, only serves to further lessen the punch this film could have had. But there are too many unnecessary, repetitive scenes, turning what could have been a fun zombie romp into an emotionless slog. Ziam has a very similar plot structure, but it’s sharp edits and pauses to let viewers care about even the secondary characters, make it a much better viewing experience.

The slap-dash ending feels like boom, we ran out of film: here you go. Bad editing, pacing, and storytelling choices hobble this wet thud of a climax. But as that follows after almost two hours of similar choices, I wasn’t surprised, just disappointed. There’s a mid-credits scene that could have been intriguing, but goes on for too long, and has no point, as the same message was delivered ala jump scare before the credits rolled.

Elixir could have been an interesting look at how corporations and those who profit from them, would do anything to keep a lid on dangerous products. It could have given viewers characters to root for, who had compelling reasons to do what they did. But it isn’t, and it doesn’t.

Score: 2 out of 5 pumpkins.