Title – The Sadness (2021) 

Director – Rob Jabbaz (feature debut) 

Cast – Berant Zhu, Regina Lei, Tzu-Chiang Wang

Plot – In the Taiwanese city of Taipei, young couple Jim (Zhu) and Katie (Lei) must battle to be reunited in a city torn to pieces by a devastating and mind altering plague that turns its victims into bloodthirsty maniacs. 

“There you are” 

Review by Eddie on 16/06/2022

Creating quite the stir with his debut effort behind the camera, Canadian born but Taiwan based director Rob Jabbaz’s visceral and uncompromising gore-filled horror The Sadness never shy’s away from its depraved and wild set-up but while it’s sure to shock and keep you watching (if your stomach allows it), there’s a coldness and narrative void here the film can’t overcome, halting it from becoming the must-watch genre experience of the year. 

Gaining notoriety at various festivals across the world and garnering larger hype after its release recently on horror streaming service Shudder, The Sadness has managed to draw viewers in through attention in the press and word of mouth occurrences and for anyone that is expecting a bloodthirsty escapade that explores the city of Taipei thrown into chaos when a plague turns many of its citizens into murderous and raving lunatics, Jabbaz film will provide the exact type of offering their seeking but it’s unfortunate the central characters and plot-line don’t connect to make all the insanity something more than pure shock value. 

Wasting little time getting stuck into the action (horror) of his film, deep fried goodness included, Jabbaz tries to give his film some heart and soul with Berant Zhu and Regina Lei’s loved up couple Jim and Katie becoming our hosts in amongst the depravity of the Taiwanese plague but despite the best attempts of his lead duo, their quest to be reunited in the chaos unfolding around them never really clicks into gear, making much of The Sadness’s plot paper thin at best and with little reason to care about outcomes of the films characters, there’s only so far this feature can go on the back of its sensory overload. 

There’s little denying in this sensory sense that The Sadness is one of the most unforgettable and eye opening genre efforts in some time and Jabbaz does instil this affair with a sense of kinetic energy that captures the insanity and wild nature of this premise, that while over the top in almost all instances, strikes a different kind of chord after the Covid-19 era of our lives and while it’s not an entirely unique premise, with the film feeling like a zombie film that isn’t while touches on familiar ground to a film such as The Crazies, there is a unique and memorable nature to this film that is found amongst all the lesser elements. 

Final Say – 

A film that may be too much for many to handle, The Sadness never holds back when it comes to the shock and awe factor of its story but with an inability to make us care and a faltering in the storytelling department, this blood-soaked horror is never close to being the classic it might have been. 

2 1/2 umbrellas out of 5