Sadness, The (2021) Review

“The Sadness” Theatrical Poster

Director: Rob Jabbaz
Cast: Berant Zhu, Regina Lei, Tzu-Chiang Wang, Emerson Tsai, Wei-Hua Lan, Ralf Chiu, Ying-Ru Chen
Running Time: 99 min.

By Paul Bramhall 

Taiwan may not be the first country that you think of when discussing the zombie genre, but it has thrown its hat into the ring a couple of times in recent years. In 2012 director Joe Chien made his debut with Zombie 108, a low budget affair that saw Taipei overrun by a zombie outbreak, and in 2020’s Get the Hell Out director Wang I-Fan has the countries parliament turned into a pack of rabid zombies for a dose of blood-soaked political satire. Following hot on the heels of the latter is 2021’s The Sadness, although interestingly its not a Taiwanese director at the helm, but Canadian filmmaker Rob Jabbaz, a creator of animated shorts who’s been living and working in Taiwan for the past 10 years.

Born out of commercial opportunity, the production company Jabbaz works at as a scriptwriter for hire saw a gap in the market. With the COVID-19 pandemic putting most countries film industries on ice in 2020, Taiwan had things remarkably under control at the time, so the decision was made to make a horror movie, partly based on the fact that by default, the lack of competition should see it get plenty of attention. While initially reluctant to pen the zombie genre piece that had been requested, Jabbaz took inspiration from the Garth Ennis and Jacen Burrows created comic book series Crossed, which ran from 2008 – 2010. Essentially a spin on the zombie genre, the story for Crossed involved a pandemic that causes its victims to carry out their most evil thoughts, and proved to be the spark of creativity that Jabbaz needed to create his Taiwan set tale.

Crafting a ludicrously violent and depraved story of survival in a city being overrun by rabid maniac’s intent on torturing, murdering, and raping (usually all at once) anyone they come across, perhaps understandably Jabbaz’s script didn’t have any takers when it was put to market. With no local talent willing to sit in the director’s chair, ultimately the production company asked Jabbaz himself if he wanted to have a crack at making it, and hence we have his feature length debut.

While the zombie genre has been just about done to death in the last 20 years, like the reanimated corpses of the undead that populate such tales, it’s a genre that refuses to die. For that reason these days it’s not so much about how original the concept it, as almost every variation has already been explored, but rather how well its executed. Admittedly on a technical level you could say The Sadness isn’t a zombie movie at all, having more in common with the likes of George A. Romero’s The Crazies than it does with Dawn of the Dead, however the principles remain the same (if you see one of the infected, run!). The twist here which does serve to add an element of freshness is that the infected don’t lose their mental faculties – they can still communicate and maintain all of their motor skills – they’re simply overwhelmed by the urge to inflict pain on others.

To that end, Jabbaz uses this as the narratives driving force to create an entertaining and quite possibly offensive for some ride into a blood-soaked mayhem. Framing the story is the tale of a young couple played by Berant Zhu (We Are Champions, How to Train Our Dragon) and newcomer Regina Lei, whose roles in the narrative are the obligatory ones of needing to find each other amidst a city that’s gone mad. With the briefest of backgrounds concerning the fictional Alvin Virus which, just as the population were getting used to living with it, takes on a dangerous new mutation, within the first 10 mins we’re on our way when an infected throws a container full of boiling oil into some poor saps face.

While zombie flicks like the previously mentioned Get the Hell Out and Korea’s Train to Busan have leaned heavily on incorporating social commentary into their plots, any concern that The Sadness is going to use zombies to reflect societies thoughts on the COVID-19 pandemic can rest easy. While the Alvin Virus is an obvious nod to real world events, it’s only in a way which is comparable to the likes of Herman Yau’s Ebola Syndrome also being based on a real virus. So if we’re not going to get a socially conscious zombie movie full of subtle underlying metaphors that comment on the state of society, what exactly does The Sadness sell itself on? That answer is fairly simple, and it comes in the form of a relentless assault of over-the-top gore, done almost entirely with practical effects, finished off with lashings of bad taste that’ll leave audiences either repulsed or revelling in it (possibly even both).

Indeed the genre that The Sadness shares most in common with is the same one shared with the previously mentioned Ebola Syndrome – Hong Kong’s infamous Cat III label. Although technically an age rating, in the early to mid-1990’s movies like Billy Tang’s Run and Kill and Red to Kill practically made Cat III its own genre, defined by how seedy, violent, and debauched the movies were. In many cases the productions that got slapped with the label were so extreme, often imbued with a kind of manic energy, that despite whatever nastiness was onscreen they were impossible to take seriously, allowing them to be pure entertainment. The Sadness falls into the same category, with more than one scene that’ll have some questioning how anyone could go that far, however the more intense the violence and debauchery becomes, the more detached from reality it gets, allowing it to be enjoyed without any of the guilt.

While the zombie genre traditionally uses the undead hordes in place of a single villain to focus on, Jabbaz wisely takes advantage of the fact the virus leaves its victims personalities and skills intact even after they turn, and gives us a memorable member of the infected to root against in the shape of Tzu Chiang-Wang (The Shooting of 319, See You After Life). Initially introduced as a businessman sat next to Regina Lei during the morning commute on the train, after one of the infected ends up in the same carriage the journey descends into the bloodiest train scene since Hammer Girl let loose in The Raid 2. Once infected, spurned by Lei’s unwillingness to engage in small talk with him, he proceeds to pursue her like a sexually depraved, Anthony Wong inspired version of the Terminator for the duration, determined to “f*ck her to death” as he so eloquently puts it (perhaps we should be thankful zombies haven’t talked much until now).

A significant contributor to The Sadness being as entertaining as it is comes down to its lack of pretention and willingness to push the envelope, which could well be the same reasons why some audiences will be switched off. The purpose here is pure visceral thrill, and for most of its almost 100-minute runtime that’s exactly what it delivers, only really slowing down during the finale, which offers up some exposition on how the virus became the way it did and the possibility of a potential cure (but in fairness, every zombie flick using the virus plot trope requires these scenes to be in there somewhere).

As a debut director The Sadness may be one that landed in the hands of Jabbaz partly by luck, but from creating 10-minute shorts to a feature length production he shows a clear understanding of pacing, and the decision to intentionally use as little CGI as possible is beyond applaudable. For those looking for a multi layered plot and a lot of attention spent on characterization, this is definitely not the movie for you. The Sadness is pure economical filmmaking when it comes to setting up a plot and the characters that populate it, with the rest of the attention (and budget) spent on creatively gory set pieces that entertain through their sheer outlandishness. With an ending that gives a further tip of the hat to George A. Romero, The Sadness is both aware of those zombie movies that came before it, while proving that as a genre it still has plenty to offer in the right hands.

Paul Bramhall’s Rating: 8/10