The Sadness Review

Scare Value Award Winner – Best Gore Effects

Top 10 film of 2022

The Sadness review.

The Sadness is surprisingly uninterested in providing commentary on its pandemic filled world. Basic concepts of who not to trust and failing institutions are present…but beside the point. The point, and what director Rob Jabbaz is interested in, is a bit of the new ultraviolence.

Classic movie reviews may contain spoilers.

The Sadness

Directed by Rob Jabbaz

Written by Rob Jabbaz

Starring Berant Zhu, Regina Lei and Tzu-Chiang Wang

The Sadness Review

The best zombie movies are generally about their survivors. A group of people striving to make it through a sudden apocalyptic landscape with danger shambling (or running) around every corner. The best of the best contain pointed social commentary directed at the world that was. The Sadness is only kind of a zombie movie…but it follows the same basic outline. Then it throws away the script and forges its own path to being a great zombie movie without any of those things.

A virus at the center of a pandemic mutates and turns those infected into crazed, violent psychopaths. We follow Jim (Berant Zhu) and Kat (Regina Lei) as they attempt to reunite amidst the chaos. All that stands between them is a fifth of the population that has already been infected.

The Sadness is all manner of messed up. It is not for the feint of heart. Displaying every sordid, horrific act it can conceive in rapid fashion. These infected aren’t looking to feast on human flesh. Well…they are…they’re just a lot more creative than settling for only that.

Jim and Kat make for strong leads. They’re likable people thrown into hell. Separated by the last moments of regular life at the beginning of the movie, we track their separate journeys to stay alive. There isn’t a lot in the way of character development. The movie isn’t interested in pausing for internal growth. That’s not a knock on The Sadness. It’s a compliment.

The Sadness strips away what we are accustomed to seeing in our plague movies. This isn’t about anything but running, hiding and surviving. It’s a breathless rush of adrenaline-fueled mayhem. There is a government and a military and, of course, scientists working away for a solution. These mostly play out in the background. It’s as if there is a normal zombie movie playing out somewhere…but we are only getting the good parts. It’s wonderful.

We do eventually meet up with the scientific side of the story near the end. It feels like an odd detour back to the norm. It serves a purpose in delivering all the exposition purposely withheld to that point. The idea presented of what the infected are, and why their eyes are full of tears while they smile through heinous acts, is a haunting one.

For most of The Sadness though…it’s all about those heinous acts of violence. The infected have the full ability to open doors, use weapons and reason like they always could. They’re mentally cognizant of all situations…they just crave over the top violence. No kind of violence is off the table here. There are scenes of horrible sexual violence committed by the weeping, drooling, growing horde. As these infected can speak…there’s even verbal mocking of the acts after the fact.

Kat is stalked by a particularly vicious man. She first encounters him as the outbreak reaches her bus ride. He is relentless in his pursuit. While Jim is dealing with crossing a city filled with rabid death, Kat tries to survive a deadly cat and mouse game. Having the characters face different types of obstacles concurrently keeps The Sadness feeling fresh throughout.

This is the kind of movie most people will choose to never go near. First, it’s not in English. Which means subtitles. If you’re someone who can’t get past a little reading in your watch…The Sadness is light enough on dialog to give a try. It’s about the visual frenzy. That violence is the second reason you might want to steer clear. There’s no sugar coating it…it’s a nonstop nightmare of carnage and destruction of the human body. The practical effects are terrific if you’re up for them though.

If you can get past the subtitles…and can deal with more blood and gore than most…you’ll find something great in The Sadness. It aims to discomfort and shock you. To push aside the usual debate between government and science and focus on true ground level horror. It wants you to feel ill at the acts you see committed over and over. Most of all, The Sadness wants to give you an unforgettable viewing experience. It gets what it wants.

Scare Value

Gory pessimism wasn’t exactly its own subgenre of horror…but maybe The Sadness creates it. This is extreme violence with masterful gore. Once the world of The Sadness breaks there is no going back. It doesn’t slow down. Uninterested in providing shelter or hope. What it does do is present a unique zombie terror in a masterful way.

4.5/5