The Sadness is a modern take on a classic premise, zombies. We open on a touching-turned-tense domestic scene. Kat and Jim, our main characters, spend a peaceful moment together before an argument ensues. We see some humdrum daily life, and they eventually leave to bring Kat to work. They pass by a gruesome crime scene, indicating that something isn’t quite right. The Alvin virus is running rampant through Taipei. In obvious parallel to the COVID-19 Pandemic, we see a society rife with social and political division. Virologists warn the Alvin virus is a serious threat, while much of the public denies its existence. Within a matter of minutes, Kat and Jim’s world begins to crumble around them as we see more and more people infected by a mutation of the Alvin virus, turning them into homicidal sadists. We follow the couple as they navigate this new hellish reality, desperately trying to survive long enough to find each other.

The Thin of It: 

The Sadness was released in 2021 and was received very well, garnering much praise in the horror world. It was written, edited, and directed by Rob Jabbaz, a creator specializing in the unsettling. Our main cast consists of Jim (Berant Zhu), Kat (Regina Lei), Molly (Ying-Ru Chen), and The Businessman (Tzu-Chiang Wang). The movie is set in Taipei, and the language spoken is Mandarin, so there are subtitles. Personally, this is not a distraction, but I know many people who will avoid a film with subtitles. To them, I say, grow up. If you let reading keep you from The Sadness, you don’t deserve it. A creator I follow did a review of this film, and after that rave, I knew I had to see it. I then proceeded to watch it back to back…to back. 

I love this movie, plain and simple. Is it perfect? No. Will it be everyone’s cup of tea? Definitely not. Now, if you can stomach the darker side of horror, the more true-to-life violence that’s so close to reality it makes you queasy, this is the movie for you. From the gnarly practical effects to the off-screen implied atrocities, The Sadness will test your limits in the best way. These zombies are unlike your traditional brain-obsessed reanimated corpses; it’s an incredibly refreshing, if completely depraved, take on the genre. 

Many people will argue, regarding a foreign film, ‘How could you know if the acting was good? You can’t even understand what they’re saying!’ To that, I say, BECAUSE I HAVE EYES. Admittedly, nuance is missed when you consume content outside of a language you’re fluent in, but not to the extent that you won’t know something well done when you see it. Each and every performance in this horrifying film was spot on. From the innocent victims to the savage ‘zombies,’ everyone sold it. The script was well written, and the dialogue felt natural and fluid, which lent to the realism. Performances were delivered with a highly effective level of unhinged. You can tell that Mr. Jabbaz had his heart in this project and surrounded himself with like-minded talent. 

The practical effects in The Sadness are wild. They make me think of the 80s horror classics (The Thing, Alien, Pumpkinhead) while feeling extremely current with the level of detail. I found myself cringing or audibly saying “yuck” multiple times throughout. I could feel the bones break, the slick blood between my fingertips. While many of the scenes were over the top, it always maintained its footing in the realm of possibility, a few torrential gushes of blood aside. Alongside the practical effects is sound design, and my god, do they complement each other well. There is a constant sense of dread due to the ongoing chaos in the background. It’s realistic; we’re never solely focused on one person for long. You can hear screams, cries, and announcements over loudspeakers. It feels like we’re constantly surrounded with no reprieve, and it only adds to the bone-deep creepy this movie dishes out.

The plot in The Sadness is relatively simple, but that isn’t necessarily a negative. We spend the film watching Kat try to survive until Jim can get to her, and it’s a story you can see playing out for a hundred different lives around them. Everyone is just trying to make it to the next minute; there is no order, no absolute “safety” to be found, just pure survival. We see little blips of the government trying to hold on to control, but in the end, it is made extremely clear that it is everyone for themselves. There is no help coming; there is no leader to follow. Is the story particularly unique? No, but it’s effective. We are given a handful of characters to care about while we watch them wade through utter chaos. It’s a zombie movie at the end of the day, I don’t know about you, but I wasn’t here for the complex interpersonal relationships; show me blood! 

The Thickness: (Thar be spoilers ahead)

The Sadness feels gooey. I really can’t think of a better way to say it. I had initially planned to use an oatmeal metaphor, but it doesn’t come off as positively as it’s meant. This is a visceral horror experience. After watching The Sadness about five times in the last month, I recommend this movie to any horror fan. Also, I’m so sorry I introduced you to this nightmare, and you have every right never to trust me again. This movie drags a fingernail across the itch in a deep, twisted part of my brain, and it is deliciously satisfying. I specifically appreciate the opening. The couple’s blissful moments in each other’s arms, the disagreement that pops that peaceful bubble, and the obvious parallels to how the world was pre/impending-pandemic. We see an interview where a virologist insists he is concerned the Alvin virus has deadly potential, countered by an interviewer who brushes him off. The neighbor who wholeheartedly believes the outbreak is a hoax perpetrated by mainstream media. The mention of it being an election year. It felt so very close to home, so real. 

Now, The Sadness isn’t perfect; I have a few complaints, although none of these ruined the film or took away from the experience for me. Firstly, the ax through the glass door. There’s a scene where The Businessman finds Kat at the hospital, swings his ax through the door, and embeds it into a cop’s back. The framing didn’t work. For how far he was from the door and the cop, there’s no natural way his arc would have landed him between the dude’s shoulder blades. The glass would have been thick enough to be an obstacle; it would have taken a second swing to get to the cop.

Another particular instance I recall was a matter of audio syncing. Molly is finally about to get some payback, and while we can hear her laughing maniacally, her mouth is closed. It’s noticeable enough, but again I was too excited to see her annihilate The Twerp (Lueh-Geng Huang) (this is my own personal title for him) for it to really bother me. 

I wish we could detail every death in this movie in vivid detail. Genuinely, there is just too much carnage to condense in a review, so I will focus on my favorites. The first kill that really made me cringe was The Pole. A group of guys beat on their captive ruthlessly with bats, fists, feet, whatever is nearby. Finally they wrap some barbed wire around a pole (basketball hoop) and, with his legs held open, run the guy full force into it. At that point, Jim jumps in and chases off the attackers, but it’s too late. Jim cuts the captive’s hands free and turns him over to find his face horribly brutalized, and he’s laughing. Another zombie spouting some depraved shit. The scene was graphic as hell, and they held nothing back here; I skipped it a time or two during my watch-throughs; it’s not an easy one to stomach. 

The next up is a favorite, or least favorite, for most viewers. That Scene. Once you’ve seen The Sadness, there’s really only one I could be talking about. Poor Molly, after all she’s been through, dies in a genuinely gruesome way. The Businessman finally gets what he’s after, a warm hole, the one he made with his umbrella. That’s right, folks, a good old-fashioned skull-fucking. This one is off-screen, but that doesn’t make it much easier to watch; I end up skipping this one often as well. The screams and squelching…phew. It’s a lot. 

I think my last kill favorite goes to The Twerp. I didn’t like him, and watching Molly shred his insides was much more satisfying than it should have been. It’s a relatively simple, if still brutal, kill. The Twerp is held down by zombies while Molly approaches with an electric autopsy saw. It’s a beautifully over-the-top scene. Bits of his own intestines and flesh fly up into his face along with a healthy amount of blood. Molly does a thorough job of getting his insides to be on his outsides. As I said, there are just too many impressive kills to go over them all here, but rest assured, they are all marvelous. 

In summation, I loved this film. The Sadness is a wonderfully visceral, modern take on the zombie, and I have the utmost respect for it. The pacing is excellent, the amount of gore is over-the-top in the best way, and at the end of the day, it begs the question, what if? What if we were hit with a virus that took out all but our basest instincts. Would things go down exactly like this? Yes, which makes it all the more terrifying. We saw how the world dealt with a pandemic that didn’t (clinically) turn people into monsters, which was…troubling. The Sadness is a perfectly realistic commentary on humanity and our inability to deal with disaster. In the end, for many of us, everyone’s for themselves. You can’t trust your family, you can’t trust your friends, you can’t trust society as a whole. All you can do is survive. 

Rating: 9.5/10