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The Sadness (2021)

★★½ — The Sadness (2021)

Rob Jabbaz, a Canadian filmmaker based in Taiwan, made his feature debut with The Sadness, a gore-heavy horror produced by Taiwanese company Machi Xcelsior Studios on a reportedly very modest budget. The film arrived in 2021, at a moment when pandemic anxieties were still very much alive globally, and Jabbaz leans into that context deliberately, drawing on the rage-virus tradition popularised by films like 28 Days Later (2002) while pushing the graphic content considerably further than most Western studios would permit. Shot on location in Taipei, it generated significant word-of-mouth on the festival circuit (premiering at Tribeca) for the extremity of its practical effects work, earning both fervent admirers and walkouts in roughly equal measure.

The Sadness (2021) begins with promise. A slick, modern take on the rage-virus outbreak subgenre, echoing 28 Days Later and The Crazies with its fast-spreading pandemic that turns ordinary citizens into feral, sadistic killers. The early scenes build a convincing sense of dread: crowded Taipei streets descending into chaos, public transit collapsing, and a young couple desperately trying to reunite amid the panic. The cinematography is sharp, the pacing urgent, and the premise (rooted in societal collapse rather than supernatural forces) feels chillingly plausible. But as the film progresses, it abandons tension and psychological horror entirely in favor of extreme, unrelenting gore. What starts as unsettling devolves into shock for shock’s sake, with scenes of graphic violence (particularly sexual violence) that feel not only gratuitous but deeply exploitative. These moments don’t serve the story or deepen the horror; they exist purely to provoke, robbing the film of any emotional or thematic weight. There’s no suspense here, no creeping dread, just brutality piled on brutality until numbness sets in. The talented leads (Berant Zhu and Regina Lei) give committed performances, but they’re trapped in a film that mistakes cruelty for courage. Technically proficient and initially compelling, but ultimately undone by its own excesses. A missed opportunity that confuses extremity with impact. There’s horror in the world it depicts, but none in how it chooses to show it.

Rating: ★★½ | Year: 2021 | Watched: 2026-02-16

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Where to watch (UK)

Stream: Shudder · Shudder Amazon Channel
Rent: Amazon Video
Buy: Amazon Video
Physical: Amazon UK

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