The Sadness Review from Raven Banner!
By now, many self-respecting horror fans are all a buzz about The Sadness, after peering two trailers full of gore to satiate their appetites until and eventual release in 2022. Steamrolling through the festival circuit, the Taiwanese horror film has been garnering quite the attention from fans and critics alike. Film Threat gave it a perfect ten-out-of-ten while Rue Morgue dubbed it “The most violent and depraved zombie movie ever made.” (I’m always hesitant when someone praises a new horror film with such enthusiasm). The Fantasia International Film Festival even gave The Sadness best picture and best director. Are these adulations accurate? Let’s find out…
Our central characters are a couple named Kat (Regina Lie) and Jim (Berant Zhu). The two wakes up and get in a small quarrel regarding a trip Kat had planned for the two to go on, for which she took a week off, but Jim’s friend Barry needs him to help on a shoot for a German ad agency. Before leaving for work Jim has some leftovers and watches an interview on his phone called “The Dunk.” The host asks the doctor being interviewed “Why do you and the rest of the medical community continue to promote fear of the Alvin virus?” The doctor explains that most people think the Alvin virus is no more serious than the flu. He claims however that experts are terrified for the potential for Alvin to mutate. He continues to show via diagram and explains that there are dormant protein chains in Alvin that are from the “lyssa order of viruses.” He continues to explain it’s the same order that rabies is a part of. The host cuts the doctor off saying there are zero deaths and that it’s ironic that this virus just happened to occur during an election year. The doctor continues that it is not wise to politicize this virus and that it is a real threat.
Speaking to his neighbour Mr. Lin in the adjoining apartment balcony, Mr. Lin discusses the pointlessness to go to the hospital. He states that the pandemic is a hoax and it’s just media propaganda (much like how mainstream media is propagating the severity of the Covid-19 pandemic). Jim then bids him a farewell.
Jim takes Kat to work on his scooter. Along the way they begin seeing the beginnings of what the doctor from The Dunk has claimed. Police can be seen arresting people on the side of a roadway, and blood can be seen spilled about.
Jim parts ways with Kat and enters a nearby a coffee shop where this gory chaotic saga takes off (and we’re basically 10-minutes in). A haunting old hag hocks a loogy in a man’s face then bashes another man in the head with deep fryer oil. She proceeds to scratch away his freshly melted mailable flesh as he screams in agony. Then the man who received the spit to the face starts to stab another patron viciously to death.
Quickly things amass into total ferocious disorder where seemingly everyone is on a murderous rampage. As Jim hastily exits the shop, a woman jumps from an apartment window, her body smashing to the pavement below. People are now killing each other in the streets and begin chasing him. He manages to return home and quickly slams a beer (why not) and turns on the TV for news. Every channel has a warning but no info. On TV is an animation of some sort of wolf-like humanoid raping a bunch of women. Then a loudspeaker from outside announces for all to hear: “Pay attention to the following message. There are some new rules for everyone. All men must report to the district office. I’ll cut all your dicks off and feed them to stray dogs. And for the ladies, they’ll be fucked by dogs in the street. Is that clear? This is your new life…”
Concerned Jim texts his lady to see if she is alright. Then Mr. Lin barges in the apartment saying that this Alvin virus is no hoax, attacking Jim with garden sheers, lopping off two of his fingers. Mr. Lin attempts to eat one then spits it in the fish tank. Jim bludgeons him to death with a toaster then flees his apartment.
Meanwhile Kat is on the train reading a novel when an inquisitive Businessman (Tzu-Chiang Wang) attempts conversation. “What’s it about?” he asks, referring to the book. “Sir, I appreciate you trying to be friendly, but I really just want to focus on my book right now.” Despite this, he continues to talk to her, telling her she is beautiful. She hesitantly thanks him and continues reading. He then touches her and asks where she works. “Do you want me to charge you with sexual harassment?” she threatens.
Another man begins stabbing folks on the train as they drop to the floor writhing around in their own blood. One unsuspecting victim is repeatedly stabbed in the throat, spraying the train and all its patrons with arterial blood. Then our Businessman turns into a raving murderous madman himself, and quickly gouges out the eye of Molly, a girl in a wheelchair, via an umbrella!
The remainder of the film takes place mainly in a hospital where Kat struggles to reunite with Jim whilst battling off the hordes of bloodthirsty attackers, led by head villain, our Businessman. Jim has his own problems with the raving lunatics outside. One scene shows a group of men beating a man to death with a bat, placing barbed wire behind him to enhance the carnage.
The Sadness is not the most extreme film ever made, or the sickest, but it is excellent. The typical movie goer would no doubt be shocked by some of the carnage within, but seasoned fans of such entertainment, like me, will have a less intense view of it all. And I certainly wouldn’t classify this as a zombie film. The people infected with the Alvin virus are like you and I, but with a newfound taste for extreme violence and enhances sexual desires.
That’s not to say that this isn’t an extreme, graphic, violent film, because it is. The Sadness gives you that CAT3 feeling whilst watching, which is a refreshing treat to behold for a modern film from 2021. Throats are bitten out gushing blood, Achilles tendons are bitten out gleefully, arms are broken, eyes are gouged (as aforementioned), eye-sockets are fucked, blood drenched orgies in the streets, noses are bitten off, people are axed to death, heads explode, evisceration by hospital cast saw, people are vomited on to spread the virus, and there’s even a short fire extinguisher smashed face scene ala Irreversible, but it’s more like a head smash Olaf Ittenbach would appreciate!
In an interview by Tiffany Blemm at Fantasia Fest 2021 director Rob Jabbaz states he had a limit to how far he wanted to go with the escalation of violence. “It’s not like somebody was trying to tell me not to do that. I knew that if we did that, the audience wouldn’t be that impressed with the movie. The violence wouldn’t hit properly.” he stated.
Upon my first viewing of The Sadness,I felt it could have been a little more brutal, going the extra mile like say, A Serbian Film, but now I totally get where Jabbaz is coming from. A Serbian Film is absolutely vilified due to it going so extreme with things.
The third act of the film goes into more detail explaining the biological impact of the Alvin virus on the infected which I won’t get into here. What’s interesting about this concept of film, similar to that of Rec, but this goes into more detail about the virus, is that you believe it can happen in our pandemic world. And it happens so quickly in the film. The outbreak is swift and ferocious. This gives The Sadness and extra gut punch because the viewer can visualize something like this plausibly happening.
Big praise must go out to Tzu-Chiang Wang, The Businessman, for his badass portrayal of our central villain. He totally gives you that evil Anthony Wong sadistic feel from such films as The Untold Story and Ebola Syndrome. There couldn’t have been a more appropriate actor cast.
The affect The Sadness will have on the viewer will likely be augmented by the film being made at such a topical time, where masses of our population fear contracting a virus with such a low mortality rate. Can you imagine if a real-world scenario like the Alvin virus occurred? The world would be even more fucked than its current situation. That’s what makes the power and ferocity this film take hold.
THE SADNESS
AKA: 哭悲
Directed by: Rob Jabbaz
Written by: Rob Jabbaz
Produced by: David Barker
Cinematography by: Jie-Li Bai
Special Effects by: Logan Sprangers
Cast: Regina Lie, Tzu-Chiang Wang, Berant Zhu
Year: 2021
Country: Taiwan
Language: Chinese (English Subtitles)
Colour: Colour
Runtime: 1h 39min
Studio: Machi Xcelsior Studios
Distributor: Raven Banner
