Director: Rob Jabbaz
Script: Rob Jabbaz
Cast: Berant Zhu, Regina Lei, Tzu- Chiang Wang, Wei-Hau Lan, Ying-Ru Chen, Johnny Wang, Apple Chen,
Running time: 100 minutes
Year: 2021
Certificate: 18
Taiwanese horror movie Ku Bei (aka The Sadness) is as hardcore, violence-wise, as its preceding reputation suggests. Written, produced and directed by Asian Canadian Rob Jabbaz, The Sadness channels other films such as 28 Days Later and The Crazies, but puts its own indelible stamp on that particular subgenre of horror. In fact, if I had to compare The Sadness to anything else I’d say it most closely aligns to British author James Herbert’s The Fog and The Dark, for sheer twisted psychopathical brutality. I therefore wouldn’t be at all surprised if Jabbaz had, at some point, read one of those pulp horror tomes and subconsciously took on-board some of their maniacal mayhem and impregnated it into his own screenplay.
The setup for The Sadness is very simple. Jim (Berant Zhu) and his partner, Kat (Berant Zhu), live a happy life, for the most part, until one day strange things begin to occur around them, namely people start attacking each other, for no apparent reason. The slight story sees Jim trying to reunite with Kat, who becomes trapped in a hospital surrounded by crazy, murderous people. To reach her Jim has to contend with a neighbour who uses a pair of garden shears to cut off some of Jim’s fingers, a mass of people on the streets causing all sorts of mayhem and half a baseball team, who seem to have turned into a gang of torturing psychopaths overnight.
Meanwhile, Kat’s daily commute to work is somewhat complicated by some awkward flirtations from an older businessman, followed by a very bloody massacre on the underground train she’s travelling on. Said businessman (Tzu- Chiang Wang) then loses the plot, and uses his umbrella to impale a lady, Molly (Ying-Ru Chen), who is sitting next to Kat, and then chases the two of them through the underground’s tunnels to a nearby hospital where all hell breaks loose.
After a rather sedate first fifteen minutes, The Sadness then unleashes Hell on Earth, as the human world seems to go mad and the worst character traits of people are brought to the surface resulting in lots of sexual and more general violence being unleashed on those affected least by the rumoured escaped Alvin virus.
Despite a simple ‘plot’ The Sadness remains a slickly made fun and crazy rollercoaster ride of a movie, which frequently racks up tension to almost unbearable levels. Certainly not for the overtly squeamish, the film is very nasty in places and includes a few sequences that even had this hardened reviewer a little shocked. Jabbaz wisely doesn’t show us everything, but implies it through some clever sound design, which is often worse than having a front row view of the carnage. However, there’s still plenty of excessive gore on display with the subway knife attacks really standing out, amongst many other scenes of maniacal mayhem. Although, most viewers will certainly be left somewhat traumatised by a particularly unpleasant eye socket scene in the hospital, which is sooo over-the-top as to be almost farcical…
The acting is high level, in particular the leads, and also by Tzu- Chiang Wang essaying the Businessman, who is one of the most disturbing cinematic villains of recent years. The music, by Tzachar, is reminiscent of Tangerine Dream at their peak, and really enhances the unsettling visuals. My only criticism of the film, as a whole, was that the dubbing seems to be out of sync or badly timed in places, but perhaps this was due to the screening copy I had.
Overall, The Sadness is an excellent horror film, which leaves the viewer in a confused state of mind of kind of wanting to see a follow-up film, but feeling uncertain that that would be a good idea, to subject oneself to a second dose of ‘sadness’…
Arrow Video has done a great job on the presentation of the film as it looks great and the sound is very clear too. There are a number of special features on the disc including –
A brand new audio commentary with writer/director Rob Jabbaz and cinematographer Bai Jie-Li; – Jabbaz’s excitement about the film is infectous.
Two archival audio commentaries with writer/director Rob Jabbaz, one with composers Tzechar and one with medical advisor Shu – Interesting commentary where the composers talk about using music to build suspense and atmosphere.
North American premiere introduction and post-screening Q&A at the 2021 Fantasia International Film Festival (39.28 mins) – Director Rob Jabbaz takes to the stage to talk about the film, including the making of it and how it got financed. He also references Hong Kong Category III films such as Run and Kill and Ebola Syndrome as inspiration. It’s also announced that the film won their Award for New Flesh.
Five behind-the-scenes featurettes: The Director, The Business Man, The Special Effects, The Art Department and The Production (5.26 mins) – Some cool behind the scene footage, which is all silent apart from a music score. It’s amusing to see that the cameras are all covered with plastic to protect them from the blood.
Colour Grading Comparison with Colourist Paul Hanrahan (11.38 mins) – Paul explains his colour choices, such as having warmer tones to begin with, then gradually becoming colder with more blues. They also deliberately made the blood appear darker.
Two short films directed by Rob Jabbaz: Fiendish Funnies (2013) and Clearwater (2020). Fiendish Funnies (3.15 mins) is a peculiar animated short which features bizarre wolf-like humanoid characters marching through a forest and then ending up fucking a red-riding hood type character. Clearwater (6.04 mins) sees a young woman sunbathing on a rocky riverbed and getting bitten by a mosquito which then transfers her blood to some weird water creature who uses it to reproduce and create a doppelganger of the young person.
Reversible sleeve featuring original artwork by Creepy Duck Design and newly commissioned artwork by Johnny Ryan– I didn’t receive this so can’t comment on it.
Illustrated collectors’ booklet featuring selections of Rob Jabbaz’s storyboards and gore guides, plus new writing on the film by Michelle Kisner and Josh Hurtado. I didn’t receive this so can’t comment on it.
