The Sadness (2021) - Asian Horror Movie Review
*Trigger Warning: The Sadness strongly features many scenes of sexual violence that some viewers may wish to avoid.*
Welcome to Sensei Sensibility! You are the hungry mind yearning to devour Asian horror cinema; I am the (questionably) knowledgeable Sensei, more than happy to satiate your cinematic appetite.
If you’re looking for a film filled with expert character development, in-depth plot progression, providing a fresh take on an over-exhausted genre, avoid Rob Jabbaz's The Sadness at all costs.
However, if you would like to see the most shocking pandemic-themed extremity horror I think anyone has ever produced, then please, embrace The Sadness with open arms and a full heart.
The “Alvin Virus” is running amok in modern day Taipei, in a fictional pandemic that initially is almost parallel with our non-fiction one. The one difference between Alvin and Corona is: Alvin has terrifying mutational possibilities, producing violent results not dissimilar to rabies. Let us pray then that those particular cells remain dormant.
Oops.
It’s Mutatin’ Time!
Go, go, rabid rangers…
Set in real time over the space of 90 minutes, and, most frighteningly – during the daylight hours, the “plot” follows the separate journeys of exceedingly attractive young couple Kat (Regina Lei) and Jim (Berant Zhu), trying to reunite with each other during an apocalyptic out-break of the mutated Alvin Virus.
The mutation, in essence, scrambles an infected person’s limbic system, destroying the part of the brain that controls the urges for sexual desire and extreme violence. The results are… gruesome beyond comprehension.
How do I even find the words to describe the brutality, carnage and mayhem taking place on the streets of Taiwan? Young, old, male, female – no one is going un-butchered, no orifice is left unviolated. The Sadness takes every cinematic taboo and, well, goes straight in, no kissing.
There’s more blood than a Tarantino wet-dream and some of the most outside-of-the-box, inventive kills I’ve witnessed in over fifteen years of watching horror. I’m not a prude, I don’t shy away from gore, but at times even I struggled with keeping my lunch down whilst watching.
All this transpires with a grotesque jazz soundscape in the background, highlighting the utter madness gambolling across the screen.
Cinematography for The Sadness is well executed, with high production values and they clearly had a decent budget for the SFX. The make-up effects and physical characteristics of The Infected are eerie and unnerving and often times vomit-inducing.
I think it’s safe to say that the eeriest story arc is the one featuring the Umbrella Man (chillingly played by Tzu-Chiang Wang) from Kat’s Dante-esque morning commute. Umbrella Man himself is the most unrelentingly sadistic movie character I’ve seen in a long time. He also serves to drive home the fact that The Infected are not brain-dead "zombies", acting without reason.
The Infected 100% know what they are doing and are making a conscious decision to engage in the most vicious of carnal desires. The reason the movie is called The Sadness is because the first visible symptoms of contagion are tears. Tears for the cogniscant chaos the victim is about to unleash. The controlled chaos of their actions is where the fear lies.
But not where the plot lies, sadly! While lots of bloody, nasty things happen along the way, not a whole lot else does. Jim keeps his promise to Kat to find her, finds her, and shows the viewer that some promises... are better off broken. The kills catch you off-guard, but the storyline and ending don’t.
That being said, I would thoroughly recommend The Sadness as a fast paced, action-packed kill-ride that will thoroughly satisfy anyone who’s ever had a yearning to watch a literal ‘zombie’ orgy on the big screen.
Special shout out to the character Molly (Ying-Ru Chen) - her endearingly vulnerable yet comedic performance added the one fleeting element of humanity to the flick. However, watch out for her "kiss"...
Streaming now on Shudder, dim the lights and grab the popcorn – and maybe the face mask and hand sanitizer too!
If you liked The Sadness, you'll love Zombie For Sale (2019)
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