Zombie horror-comedy flick Reuni Z (Reunion Z) from Monty Tiwa and Soleh Solihun goes deeper than fart jokes and cheap laughter.

Soleh, who wrote and codirected Reuni Z, plays Juhana, a B-movie actor best known for a raunchy, cheesy commercial. Back in high school, Juhana was the guitarist in an amateur band with Jeffri (Tora Sudiro), Lulu (Ayushita), and Mansur/Marina (Dinda Kanya Dewi).

After the band mates’ relationship goes south when Juhana fight with Jeffri over the latter’s idealistic view of the band, the friends gradually drift apart, until they all meet again at Zenith High School’s 20th reunion.

Predictably, the reunion goes awry. The school’s current cheerleaders, zombified after eating tainted bakso from a street vendor, begin munching on the alumni.

Horror and comedy are the two hardest movie genres to nail, and balancing the two is a considerable act, even with Soleh’s background in stand-up comedy.

While any avid watcher of zombie flicks like The Dawn of the Dead or The Walking Dead series would be disappointed with the lack of gore and viscera, regular moviegoers who crave a bit of mindless fun will get some laughs out of the many jokes and punch lines thrown around.

Lots of satire has been finding its way into Indonesian pop culture as of late, such as social media celebrity Awkarin and the commercially successful horror remake Pengabdi Setan (Satan’s Slave), complete with the cameo from its director Joko Anwar.

In an era ravaged by social justice warriors and their higher moral ground of political correctness, Reuni Z also dares to take a stand on the edge by throwing innumerable penis jokes at the expense of Marina, aka Mansur.

Marina’s past as Mansur, as well as her pre-op status, is the set-up for many of the film’s attempts at humor. In one scene, Marina’s appearance at the reunion mesmerizes her former bullies, who used to pick on Mansur for picking at his nose hair. The bullies themselves become zombie chow, as they commit two grave sins in cinema; failing to show character development, even after 20 years, and not being the main characters.

Marina’s exaggerated femininity, in her body language as well as her high heels, which she never takes off to move faster or to use as an emergency weapon, puts Dinda Kanya Dewi’s method acting on display.

According to Dinda, after reading the script and signing the contract, she asked her transgender friends for tips, as well as researching transgender portrayals in the movies to get a better sense of the character she was playing.

The off-color jokes do not stop with Marina. The humor pounces on two other women in particular; a cognitively-impaired trophy wife of a previously married man, and reunion organizer Raina (Fanny Fabriana), a divorcee who describes herself as “as barren as the Sahara Desert”.

Reuni Z offers nothing new in the realm of the living dead, relying on tried-and-tested tropes; zombification resulting from ignorance, characters munched on by zombies despite (or even because of) their holier-than-thou attitudes, and heroic last stands from those who feel like they have nothing to lose.

Looking past the storm of clichés, however, the movie is loaded with critical commentary on society.

At first assumption, this movie plays out like 97 minutes of mindless fun.  Reuni Z, however, seems to beg second thoughts and some mind-blowing speculations. (jlm)

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REUNI Z

Produced by: Rapi Films 

Directors: Monty Tiwa, Soleh Solihun

Screenwriters: Agasyah Karim, Khalid Kashogi, Soleh Solihun

Cast: Tora Sudiro, Soleh Solihun, Ayushita, Dinda Kanya Dewi, Surya Saputra, Cassandra Lee, Kenny Austin.

Running time: 97 minutes

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