Film Review #2: Zombi Kampung Pisang

Ok guyz, I know what you are about to say......come on...sape la tengok citer Melayu ni dah sah citer lawak murahan.....


This is obviously a not so recent release (sometimes early 2007), and as normal like any Malay film release...the first thought that would come to me is ...it is so hopeless and insignificant to me to the extent I would regard the industry in totality as being non-existent. That is how bad my perception is to Filem Melayu these days......curse you Yu*** Has***..... (you know who I am referring to) and someone please bring back the P. Ramlee glory days.

Until just recently I was lured to indulge with this piece from the director Mamat Khalid entitled "Zombi Kampung Pisang"...or ZBK for short...or..."the zombies of banana village" in its literal English translation. Considering the flood of zombies and undead themed films coming out from the west a while ago (and still continues), Mamat Khalid may want to capitalise on the genre with a Malaysian twist to the story......still this didn't excite me even in the slightest. Let's cut the crap.....the sole reason why I agreed to watch this film was because someone had lend me a copy of its VCD (which means I didn't fork out any money for this) and commented that it was different from other Malay films and because I did not have anything better to do during one of the weekend. So what the heck....I decided to give it a go.

How should I put this....ZBK was actually (on a Malaysian standard) an above par comedy and fun!!! There I said it......couldn't really believe that I would actually give a big thumbs-up for a nonsensical Malay film and with Awie in the lead role.

The film started with the opening credit trailing on top of an ambulance siren which was a homage to the Jerry Zucker's Naked Gun spoof films, which I think did play well with the ZBK film setting....It was like telling the audience....."hey guyz this is not a serious horror film". Once the opening sequence ended, ZBK if I could recall would be one of the fastest film that really cut the chase and immediately jumped into its actual plot. It was obvious as the first scene of which Zami Ismail (Pak Uda of Kg Seri Wangi fame) seemed to mysteriously drop-dead while scolding Awie and the gang for not attending prayer at the surau. From then on the film went on showing more villagers mysteriously died while the remaining started to go panick. As there were many dead bodies, the village's assistant medical assistant, Sofi had asked them to be placed in the village's Balai Raya. Not long after that, the villagers once again was shocked as all the corpses somehow went missing and it was revealed later by Husin (played by Awie) that all of them had transformed into zombies, who had a first encouter with the zombie flock while searching for a public phone.

The Balai Raya was used as a clever plot device of which it became the central location throughout the film. This was where all the corpses and villagers were gathered while discussing what to do next and it was where the villagers was under seiged with the "otak-craving" zombies. The films continued as the villagers now led by Husin trying to retaliate and just when all hopes seemed to be lost.... suddenly there were a truckload of armies to save the day. Even the zombies regain their humanness when given jabs containing antidotes. It was later told that there had been an accidental spill of chemical disposal into a rendang pot at a warong in the village. Those that happenned to eat the rendang at the warong on the fateful day experienced reactions to the chemical which then turned them into zombies.

The film had many hilarious moments and my favourite would be during the zombie attack on the balai raya. Realising that the zombies were trying to get through the ceiling, Husin had asked the remaining to assemble the tables and armed with sticks and flag pole (complete with the Malaysian flag) they tried to ward off the zombies from advancing.......and from this point the film went into slow-motion showing people climbing onto the tables to help Husin, with some of them fell down and with the flag pole straighthen up the film came to a momentary pause clearly showing the heroic formation of the villagers on the table and the flag pole mimicking exactly like the "tugu negara"......and that was really funny.

All in all, watching ZBK was an interesting experience and Mamat Khalid did a good job in departing the film away from the stereotype Malay comedy. I personally think the film works due to its simplicity. The dialogue was simple yet funny and most importantly it doesn't sound anything like the hopeless Yu*** Ha**** films (mana ada orang cakap camtu in real life!!). Another thing is that film chronicles what happen in only one night in Kg. Pisang and throughout of the film, the costumes were as realistic as they could be...in this case it can be seen that Awie was always in a worn-out t-shirt, kain pelikat and with a "gayong" (as he was about to take a bath at the beginning of the story) and for once I could actually appreciate his talent in acting. As for the special effect....we are definitely still light years away from what those goons can do in Hollywood....but who cares when we have a fine and entertaining nonsensical plot.

So kudos to Mamat Khalid for trying so seriously to ensure that the film not to be seriously taken...just go watch it and have fun!! .......4/5 stars