CELEBRITY husband-and-wife team Aeril Zafrel and Wawa Zainal have now turned producers for their biggest and most ambitious movie, and it zooms in on a dystopian version of us called "Lemuria".
Their new film also marks the big screen debut of their eldest daughter Hayla.
'Buas', which premiered in cinemas on June 20, is produced by Respected Citizens Productions and boasts a cast of popular young stars as well as "golden oldies".
Aeril plays the vicious anti-hero Puzo, Wawa plays the long-suffering heroine Hani, and Hayla plays Hani's daughter Sya.
The breakout star here is 9-year-old Hayla and she is a natural actress.
In all of her scenes she indeed looks natural, in both her gestures and expressions, despite this being her first "real" acting credit.
Another sibling of Hayla also made a "cameo", but he was yet-to-be-born then.
Wawa was pregnant with her youngest child Jibril during the filming of 'Buas' in 2021.
That makes the Sabahan actress more admirable because she goes all out to "fight the vicious villains and protect her family".
'Buas' was Azhari Zain's last film before his untimely death from stroke complications last year.
And he did go all out to ensure that 'Buas' marked the end of his cinematic journey with a bang — assembling a great mix of old and new stars.
Azhari's "prized catch" is veteran award-winning actor Ahmad Yatim, who has long retired from show business.
It is truly great to have Ahmad back, he is a legend — even if his character is a minor one, his screen presence is magnetic.
The film tells the story of Puzo (Aeril), whose mother Dahlia (Nabila Huda Suhaimi) is an assassin.
Lemuria has a secret organisation of assassins called E1 and their mission is to take down all corrupt politicians and businessmen, as well as the vengeful heirs of such people.
In the movie, Puzo is trained by E1 to become an invincible killing machine.
The story begins when three robbers attempt to rob Villa Bahagia where Puzo is living with little Sya (Hayla), who appears to be his daughter, but is actually his hostage.
The robbers are soon confronted by Puzo and end up severely injured.
Another plot later shows Johan Asari's character Hady and his wife, Hani (Wawa), driving to the same bungalow with their daughter Sya.
From time to time, viewers get to see flashbacks of young Puzo and focus on how his loving mother Dahlia made sure that he did not fall into her life as an assassin.
'Buas' juxtaposition of two different journeys that eventually converged with bloody consequences revealing how things are not what they seem on social media.
TRILOGY SET TO BECOME FAMILY MILESTONE
The movie is a gritty but fast-paced trilogy, in which the next movie will be its prequel and the third movie will be its sequel.
Viewers can already imagine Wawa and Hayla as our local Connors of the 'Terminator' series up against E1, and also see Aeril as their "mean machine frenemy".
The robbers played by perennial bad boy Kodi Rasheed and versatile husband-and-wife team Adlin Aman Ramlie and Emelda Rosmila made their scene memorable by wearing "punk" costumes, which resembled those of the 'Mad Max' film characters.
While Aeril's utterly vicious role as natural-born killer Puzo is the main theme, the robbers tie at second place with heroic Hani and Sya.
The trio are scene-stealers because they expose their "all-too-human" worries and fears as they gradually made their move to take over Puzo's mansion.
This means they contribute the scarce bit of humour to a dark, disturbing story.
If all goes well, the 'Buas' trilogy is set to become a milestone in the careers of Aeril, Wawa and Hayla!
NOW SHOWING
ABNORMAL: BUAS
DIRECTED by Azhari Zain
STARRING Aeril Zafrel, Wawa Zainal, Hayla Aeril, Shaheizy Sam, Nabila Huda Suhaimi, Johan As'ari, Adlin Aman Ramlie, Emelda Rosmila, Kodi Rasheed, Ahmad Yatim, Datuk Ahmad Tarmimi Siregar, Datuk Rahim Razali and Jalil Hamid
DURATION: 120 minutes
RATING: 16