THE SADNESS. (2021) REVIEW BY SANDRA HARRIS.

THE SADNESS. (2021) DIRECTED BY ROB JABBAZ.

STARRING BERANT ZHU, REGINA LEI AND TZU-CHIANG WANG.

REVIEW BY SANDRA HARRIS. ©

This is one of those outbreak, pandemic-epidemic, zombie apocalypse, contagion-type movies in which a load of people get infected by something horrible and they pass it on to other unfortunate folks by biting them or somehow getting their bodily fluids all over them.

It probably goes a bit farther than, say, TRAIN TO BUSAN and ALIVE, in terms of the unbelievable amount of blood and gore on offer. Some folks will say it’s better because of that. I acknowledge that this is an excellent pandemic and zombie apocalypse movie, even though the blood and guts was way too much for my delicate stomach.

My favourite films in this genre include OUTBREAK with Dustin Hoffman and Rene Russo, CONTAGION, in which the annoying Gwyneth Paltrow dies of the yucky, goopy infection (see what I did there?) within the first ten minutes and CONTAINMENT, a brilliant film contained mostly within an apartment building. None of these are over-the-top with their gore and probably concentrate more on plot and character development than on people chomping on severed limbs.

RIGHT AT YOUR DOOR, SHAUN OF THE DEAD and AWAIT FURTHER INSTRUCTIONS are also well worth a look and, if you’d like to watch a thoughtful movie about the AIDS epidemic in America in the early ’80s with hardly any gore in it at all, I highly recommend AND THE BAND PLAYED ON.

Anyway, THE SADNESS is set in Tai-pei, the capital of Taiwan, in modern times. It’s just another typical day in the lives of attractive young couple, Jim and Kat. Or, at least, it starts out that way. Jim takes Kat to her subway ride on his scooter, but on his way home he realises that an outbreak of the most horrific and inexplicable violence has broken out in his neighbourhood.

He gets home as fast as he can, only to lose two fingers to his next-door neighbour, Mr. Lin, who has run amok with a pair of garden shears. With his remaining digits, Jim texts Kat to say that she’s to stay put, he’ll come and get her on the scooter because everyone everywhere’s gone batshit crazy.

On the crowded subway, Kat is having a much worse time. After being sexually harassed by a middle-aged businessman, she watches, horrified, as another man on the train goes mad and starts stabbing everyone in sight and rolling around the place in their blood. The randy businessman takes out a young girl’s eye with his umbrella- well, when in Rome- and a bloodbath ensues.

Kat and the now one-eyed girl manage to escape from the subway and hurry to a nearby hospital, where the doctors can presumably treat the eye trauma. But some zombified types break into the hospital and kill and rape the male and female cop respectively. Yes, rape and sexual assault are a part of the repertoires of the infected peoples now. Some viewers weren’t too keen on this aspect of the outbreak, but it’s here and that’s it, get used to it, lol.

To Kat’s absolute horror, Mr. Businessman has followed her to the hospital and stalks her through it as she runs in terror. I’m going to rape you to death, he promises her with a bloody grin, and, because he’s just violated his first victim’s empty eye-socket (yuck, yuck and treble yuck!), Kat is very much inclined to believe him.

I’m not even telling you the half of what happens here in terms of blood and guts; there was so much of it that I actually forgot a lot of it, and also, I’m sure you’d rather be left alone to find things out for yourself without a load of spoilers.

The film’s not for the faint-hearted though, remember that. They probably handed sick bags out with the price of admission at the theatrical release of the film in Taiwan back in 2021. I believe some cinema-goers even became cinema-leavers after the first few gruesome scenes.

But do the attractive Jim and the beautiful Kat ever re-unite after the worst apocalyptic episode ever to hit Tai-pei? (I’m guessing.) Does the disgusting Mr. Businessman survive to rape again? And does he actually manage to get his todger in the right opening this time, the silly sausage? Eyes aren’t for f*cking, silly, eyes are for seeing with! Lord bless us and save us, haven’t you never not been to no school no-how?

Who’s been messing with the babies in Maternity, by the way? Does the world ever return to normal again, or has it witnessed too much to be allowed to continue its existence? Watch it and see, folks, but for gawd’s sake wear a mask. You need one even just to watch this.