I’ve run across lots of mentions of it, but I never knew if it’s a real country or a fictional one. Dead Alive made me start thinking about this…I kick ass for the Lord!
On a side note, I’d love to see the Zombie Baby show up in another film, or even on Buffy, if even as a cameo.
It’s not a country, it’s an island. Part of Indonesia.
Ah, hell. That’s what I get for just vomiting up a question without doing any research: apparently it IS a real place. I guess Jackson picked it because it sounds exotic…
By the way, I’d like to thank you for posting the question here. If you’d have put it in GQ, there’s no way in hell I could have typed fast enough to give the first answer.
Since it is in Cafe Society maybe we can segue this thread into something more appropriate.
Like Firesign Theater’s The Giant Rat of Sumatra. Any-ody else -atch this … -illy me I meant -isten to this album?
What’s TV like in Sumatra? The theater? local dances? Local coffee? (hey, it is Coffee Society, after all! ;))
Saltire, you’re welcome. I am pleased that <b>somebody</b> got some pleasure out of my boneheaded mistake 
While somebody’s mentioned it, where did the Giant Rat of Sumatra (not the play, but the actual legend) come from? Anybody know, or should I ask Cecil?
Coffee’s good in Sumatra. It’s right next to the island of Java, after all.
From coffeeproject.com:
Sumatra Gayo Organic
Gayo Mountain Certified Organic Sumatra. Grown in northern Sumatra in the Takengon region of Indonesia, this is a semiwashed, rich and fullbodied coffee, low in acidity. Look for a rich sweet quality with a hint of earthiness and spice.
From Sherlock Holmes. In one of the his stories, Holmes mentioned he was once involved in the Case of the Giant Rat of Sumatra but can’t reveal any details. The lurid name and mystery of the supposed case have fascinated fans ever since.
It was mentioned in The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire {which is not about vampires at all}: “Matilda Briggs was not the name of a young woman, Watson,” said Holmes in a reminiscent voice. “It was a ship associated with the giant rat of Sumatra, a story for which the world is not yet prepared.”
Me, I always wanted to know what happened to Isadora Persano, the “well-known journalist and duellist, who was found stark staring mad with a match box in front of him which contained a remarkable worm said to be unknown to science.”