Overview
A pandemic spirals into chaos, revealing the darkest corners of humanity.
Ember's analysis
- Pacing
- Breakneck
- Intensity
- Extreme
- Complexity
- Easy to follow
- Violence
- Graphic
- visceral
- frantic
- paranoid
- extreme horror marathon
- late night horror viewing
What critics said
Critics broadly praised the film's assured style, fast-paced intensity, practical gore, and pandemic-era resonance while finding its plot comparatively oversimplified and its erotic violence troubling.
What sets it apart
May contain story progression spoilers
The mutated virus drives infected people toward conscious sadism, linking contagion with fears about social and moral collapse.
The film foregrounds mutilation, torture, cannibalism, and practical gore effects as central visual experiences.
Jim and Kat are divided by the outbreak and their efforts to reunite organize the film's escalating survival ordeal.
The story begins after a year of relatively benign pandemic symptoms and satirizes a society that relaxes too soon.
Films like The Sadness, and why
28 Days Later
shares extreme splatter, viral apocalypse, social collapse, and relentless survival horror
The Crazies
shares graphic body horror, infectious transformation, bleak contagion anxiety, and practical gore effects
Martyrs
shares transgressive exploitation aesthetics, sadistic violence, and an unforgiving descent into human depravity
Movie Details
- Director
- Rob Jabbaz
- Release Date
- 2021-01-22
- Runtime
- 100 min
- Rating
- 6.8 / 10 (1238)
Cast
- Berant Zhu
- Regina Lei
- Wang Tzu-chiang
- Apple Chen
- Lan Wei-hua
- Ralf Chiu
- Huang Lueh-geng
- Emerson Tsai
- Chou Chih-min
- Cai An-Long
Where to watch in United States
- Streaming
- Philo, AMC Plus Apple TV channel, AMC+ Amazon Channel, AMC+ Roku Premium Channel, AMC+, Shudder, Shudder Amazon Channel, Shudder Apple TV channel
- Rent
- Amazon Video, Fandango At Home
- Buy
- Amazon Video, Fandango At Home
Streaming options come from TMDB and change over time.
Common questions
- What is The Sadness about?
- A separated young couple races through a Taiwanese city consumed by a mutation that turns ordinary people into sadistic predators.
- What is The Sadness like to watch?
- Ember's analysis rates the pacing of The Sadness as breakneck, its intensity as extreme and its storytelling as easy to follow.
- Is The Sadness violent?
- Yes. Ember rates the violence in The Sadness as graphic.
- What did critics think of The Sadness?
- Critics broadly praised the film's assured style, fast-paced intensity, practical gore, and pandemic-era resonance while finding its plot comparatively oversimplified and its erotic violence troubling.
- Which films are like The Sadness?
- Films with a similar feel include 28 Days Later, The Crazies, and Martyrs.
- How long is The Sadness?
- The Sadness runs 100 minutes.
- Where can I watch The Sadness?
- In United States, The Sadness streams on Philo, AMC Plus Apple TV channel, AMC+ Amazon Channel, AMC+ Roku Premium Channel, AMC+, Shudder, Shudder Amazon Channel, Shudder Apple TV channel.
