The Sadness (Taiwan, 2021)

After the philosophical horrors of Heretic, I felt in the mood for something more visceral today. Whenever I saw mentions of The Sadness in reviews or online discussions, the main comment was always how brutal it was. That intrigued me, but I was also wary because it falls into the rage zombie subgenre, which isn’t always my favourite.

When we discussed zombies and 28 Days Later with Maverick Haenze, I wondered if my aversion to the genre was beginning to ease. Like a lot of people, I was exhausted by the saturation of horror media with zombies throughout the 2010s. Happily, enough time has now passed since I last saw an episode of The Walking Dead that I’m actually looking for a zombie film or two this month. The Sadness will be the first real test of this.

The Sadness is currently streaming on Shudder in the UK.

Synopsis

A young couple in Taipei, Kat and Jim, have an argument, then set about their daily routine. While Kat heads off to her office, Jim stops at a café for breakfast. Each is oblivious to news reports about the flu-like Alvin virus undergoing mutations, but Jim quickly realises something is wrong as visibly ill people start committing atrocities all around him.

Meanwhile, Kat is on the subway. She is being sexually harassed by a middle-aged businessman when all hell breaks loose around them. Fleeing the carnage, she is stalked relentlessly by the now-infected businessman, whose attraction to her has metastasised into a deadly obsession.

As the city spirals into bloody chaos, Jim searches for Kat. But, as they each encounter one tableau of sickening violence after another, things only grow weirder and more desperate. Will Taiwan tear itself apart, maybe literally? Will Kat and Jim find a way out of this madness? And just how many times will you have to look away from the screen before the film ends?

General Thoughts

The Sadness feels very different from other films about rage zombies. While the Alvin virus has similarities to the rage virus from 28 Days Later, those infected are far from mindless killing machines. They retain their intelligence and personalities, taunting their victims and using weapons. They even run away from fights when outmatched. Ultimately, they are us, only driven by pure id and with all restraint stripped away. That is a very particular kind of monster, and one I find far scarier than their screeching, feral kin.

I’m not sure if The Sadness is the goriest film I’ve seen, but it’s certainly up there. The violence is brutal, with not a drop of fake blood spared. It’s not just all disembowelment and dismemberment, however. The sexual violence took me by surprise, as it’s not something I normally associate with zombies. While it’s neither graphic nor prurient, it is still shocking. These infected perhaps have more in common with those in James Herbert’s The Fog or David Cronenberg’s Shivers than, say, 28 Days Later.

It’s significant that The Sadness was released in 2021, in a world reshaped by the Covid pandemic. The spread of viruses was very much in the public consciousness, and we see connections in everything from the title sequence of a coronavirus mutating to characters recycling Covid denialist talking points to dismiss the Alvin virus.

Verdict

When a film is known primarily for being gory, I worry whether it will have much else to offer. Happily, there is substance under all that blood. The Sadness may not have the most original premise, but its deviations from familiar tropes and its willingness to be appallingly brutal make it stand out. While there are moments of pitch black comedy, this really is a bleak, nasty film, with a cynical ending that will leave you feeling hollow inside. And, honestly, that is just what I want from this kind of horror.

While I would recommend approaching The Sadness with caution if you’re squeamish about graphic bloodshed or if sexual violence is a trigger for you, I do believe that most horror fans will love it. This is a pacy, relentless film that piles on shock after shock without ever becoming desensitising. There is an inventiveness to the butchery that will delight even the most jaded gorehound, but there is also an emotional dimension that makes it hurt all the more.

The Sadness has gone a long way towards convincing me that I’m ready to love zombies again. Let’s see if that hope survives the month.

The October Horror Movie Challenge

Please do join in and share your own thoughts with us about this or any other films as the month goes on. You can usually find us on BlueSky, Reddit, Discord, or lurking in the dark corners of your home.

If you would like to play along at home, my provisional selections are:

Heretic (USA, 2024)
The Sadness (Taiwan, 2021)
The Uninvited (USA, 1944)
The Lodge (UK/USA, 2019)
WolfCop (Canada, 2014)
Valerie and Her Week of Wonders (Czechoslovakia, 1970)
The Monkey (USA, 2025)
Sister Midnight (India/UK, 2024)
Roadgames (Australia, 1981)
Nightmare City (Italy, 1985)
Dangerous Animals (Australia, 2025)
Dead Talents Society (Taiwan, 2024)
Winterbeast (USA, 1992)
Byzantium (UK/Ireland, 2013)
The Ugly Stepsister (Norway, 2025)
A Page of Madness (Japan, 1926)
Heart Eyes (USA, 2025)
Grafted (New Zealand, 2024)
Arrebato (Spain, 1979)
Hatching (Finland, 2022)
Abigail (USA, 2024)
Ganja & Hess (USA, 1973)
The Devil’s Bath (Austria, 2025)
Pieces (Spain, 1982)
Infested (France, 2023)
Best Wishes to All (Japan, 2022)
A Cat in the Brain (Italy, 1990)
Enys Men (UK, 2022)
Creature From the Black Lagoon (USA, 1954)
Perewangan (Indonesia, 2024)
Bring Her Back (Australia, 2025)

A Final Note

If you have been enticed here by these posts, please do look around at some of our other film reviews. We also have a podcast, called The Good Friends of Jackson Elias, which occasionally covers horror films. If this appeals, you might want to check out some of the following episodes.