The state of modern genre cinema has become littered with a constant influx of zombie films invading most aspects of society. This ranges from numerous spin-offs of “The Walking Dead,” “Black Summer” and the upcoming “Day of the Dead” series popping up on the small screens to more feature films that could be counted popping up every year. While Asian cinema is still only just dipping its toes in the TV-series market with “Kingdom,” its film output on the subject is still among the most highly regarded entries in the genre with Train to Busan and One Cut of the Dead scoring incredibly well internationally, showing South Korea and Japan are capable of producing top-tier content. Now, Taiwan drops its own take on the subject with Rob Jabbaz's new effort “The Sadness,”
“The Sadness” is Screening at Fantasia International Film Festival
After a year of combating a pandemic with relatively benign symptoms, a frustrated nation finally lets its guard down. This is when the virus spontaneously mutates, giving rise to a mind-altering plague. The streets erupt into violence and depravity, as those infected are driven to enact the cruelest and ghastliest things they can think of. Murder, torture, rape, and mutilation are only the beginning. A young couple, Jim (Berant Zhu) and Kat (Regina) are pushed to the limits of sanity as they try to reunite amid the chaos. The age of civility and order is no more. There is only “The Sadness”.
For the most part, “The Sadness” has a lot to like about it. Among the better features on display is writer/director Jabbaz's storyline that evokes current topical subject matters into the explanations for the viral outbreak. Touching on the idea of an initially harmless disease that doesn't have much in the way of damaging effects, to an infected individual beyond treatable symptoms, that the worry of it mutating into something far more dangerous is an eerie mirror of current society. The political ramifications about when the virus is unleashed upon the citizenry and how it's to be controlled and wiped out, focus much of the attention on other modern-day governments and how it's all being treated in the pop-culture landscape regarding the sources to be trusted, create a perfect parallel to the culture at the moment.
With this setup in place, “The Sadness” goes overboard in featuring tons of outlandish zombie attacks that are incredibly fun. From the early sequences of the outbreak occurring on the streets, featuring the couple going past infected citizens being detained by police to the chaos at the restaurant where he's attacked by several infected zombies, there's a frenetic quality to the encounters that's quite chilling. Given the treatment of the zombies here where they're shown to be mentally aware and cognizant of what's going on but delving into their baser instincts without pity or remorse, it creates some tension and fear in the scenes where they're confronted by the creatures. The way they run after victims, taunt them before killing, and are shown to be in complete control of how they're behaving all help to make them more terrifying.
This quantity of fun encounters produces an over-the-top and extraordinary amount of carnage and bloodshed on display. The amount of bodies shown being torn open, bitten, and devoured is staggering to think of as eyes are gouged out, necks are chomped, fingers ripped off, and much more. The straightforward approach to the effects-work means that these scenes never become campy or ridiculous but rather remain grounded in a realism that's immensely satisfying as the film goes on. However, it's the hardcore bloodshed on display from the multiple stabbings that really win out here as the brutality inherent in these sudden ambush sequences that produce an immeasurable spray of blood onto the attackers and surrounding areas. Featuring all kinds of great effects-work throughout, there's a lot to like with the film.
That said, “The Sadness” does have some issues. The main factor to get over is the change of pace regarding the zombies and their behavior. This approach might not be appreciated by most hardcore genre fans due to several changes made. The shuffling, slow-moving brain-dead undead who only desire to eat human flesh is gone, replaced by weapon-wielding, cognizant beings that merely act out their perverse and morbid desires instead. That basically amounts to murder and rape, making the creatures questionable about being lumped into the genre, especially since there's nothing about them dying and coming back to life. There's also the overlong finale that goes on much too long for its own good, focusing on the confrontation between Jim and Kat which goes nowhere instead of showing Kat trying to escape which she easily can. The speech is infuriating as it's obviously a trap and the inability to recognize it makes for an overlong finale, factors which hold the film back somewhat.
An unrepentant gore-fest filled with plenty of carnage and a topical story written around it all, “The Sadness” is an immensely fun zombie film that does have some minor issues filling out genre qualities that might not even matter anyway. Gorehounds, lovers of Asian horror cinema, or grindhouse film aficionados are going to really enjoy this one the most.
