"The Sadness" Review: Gross, Violent, and Perverted

Platform: Shudder

Release Date: May 12, 2022

Already riddled with an inclination towards hits and misses, the horror genre seems to have no truer high risk, high reward options than a new horror film on Shudder. The horror-centric streaming app has introduced audiences to a number of great additions, such as "Caveat," "Z," and "The Queen of Black Magic," that it can become easy to leave anticipation for new films too high. However, that is not a scenario you have to worry about with one of Shudder's newest additions, "The Sadness". Whatever your anticipation may be, you are likely not prepared for the wild and disturbing ride that director Rob Jabbaz takes you on in this Taiwanese film. As the Alvin virus spreads rapidly throughout Taipei, Kat and Jim, a young couple that lives in the city, fight to reunite amidst the chaos. They quickly learn of the virus's fatal consequences, as those infected earn more than just darkened eyes, but also give in to their darkest desires and become engrossingly violent.

This movie crosses the line, stays on the other side, and looks back with no regret, which becomes its most endearing quality. Without too many spoilers, the movie sets a gorey stage with a fry oil accident before it navigates to a guy penetrating a woman's eye socket. As they journey across separate parts of the city, Kat and Jim encounters many heinous behaviors and striking visuals, some in your face and others creating a disturbing background. The movie's tone and practical effects keep even the most ridiculous violence quite palatable. It is not presented as a horror-comedy, but the violence can feel so over the top that the only way to cope with watching it may to for our brain to automatically frame it as such. Even so, that perception does not take away from how good the effects are and how well the actors sell the violence, circling back to a very visceral experience. It is easy to tell that the prosthetics are not the cream of the crop, but having that B-level feeling gives the movie more personality than if it relied on high-end CGI elements.

The movie was at its best when encountering random moments of human darkness, which was frequently interrupted by the storyline of the main characters. Jim and Kat's journey was never situated to be the story's core but just a through line from which the shocking moments could blossom. However, specifically with Kat, the movie focuses the concern about these characters to specific antagonists: for Jim, the virus itself, and for Kat, a perverted, middle-aged businessman. Bypassing all of the potential social commentary that the businessman could be made to represent, his role as Kat's primary antagonist hits only one note and quickly becomes exhausting. The infected businessman is solely focused on pursuing Kat and other women to violently fulfill his sexual desires and he never lets you forget it. While the infected could be mistaken for zombies, they are still alive, fully conscious, and able to speak and share their grotesque goals. Having the businessman be the third most occurring character left much of the movie dragging, as he only offerred the same sex-crazed desperation from the time he is met and is too exhausting to even care about Kat trying to rid herself of him. Trying to personalize the infected resulted in less interest than those that were left to randomly attack at their own accord.

A balance of characters and story with the usual disturbing ingredients can elevate a horror film past mindless fun, but this movie seems to be absolute fine relegating itself to just that. The main characters, their relationship, and their journey back to each other are as empty as the conscience of an infected. The opening 45 or so minutes of the film are its strongest, as the chaos of the infection is still being established. When the movie begins focusing on Kat's individual journey and her ongoing treachery at the hands of the businessman, the movie hits some its most ridiculous highs, but many of its slow lows as well. Jim's journey, on the other hand, is not plagued by a singular antagonist. Instead, his narrative is filled with a variety of situations that best exhibits the movie's most interesting feature: the influence of the virus. The violent desires are kept very simple, as it all boils down to sex and killing, which could be interpreted as a conversation on humanity, or on men specifically, but the film does not play with that enough to make it obvious. The movie missed out on building more depth around its overal narrative by not capturing more personal dark desires and, instead, relying on everyone wanting to inflict similar forms of pleasure or torture.

At its most violent, this is a viscerally fun movie, but as it grows more and more sexual, it plummets into a weirdly perverted tragedy. It starts with such a fun build in momentum, but it eventually becomes overwhelmed by a singular focus and an unecessarily loud score. If you manage to grasp onto at least one of the lead characters, you will find Kat the easier of the two, then you may get some impact from the movie's ending. It was too anti-climactic for a movie billed as “the most violent and depraved zombie movie ever made”. At times, it very much feels that way but it gets bogged down with too much vision and direction. Still, whether you are looking for a new breed of zombie movie or just want to sit eyes-wide and jaw-dropped, this is a much watch for horror fans or for those who want something awkward to talk about at dinner.

---

RATING: 🧟 🧟 🧟 🧟 / 5

---

If you enjoyed this content, please follow Geeky Therapy on Facebook and Instagram to stay up to date with all posts and reviews.

---