the sadness

THE SADNESS: AMC’s Shudder Lands A May Date For Rob Jabbaz’s Shocking Festival Horror Thriller Fave

AMC Network’s Shudder has acquired rights to Canadian director Rob Jabbaz’s feature debut, The Sadness. The film stars Regina Lei (76 Horror Bookstore) and Berant Zhu (We Are Champions, How to Train Our Dragon), and will launch exclusively on the premium horror thriller streamer beginning May 12 in North America, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. The Sadness was shot in Taipei, Taiwan, and and follows a young couple trying to reunite amid a city ravaged by a plague that turns its victims into deranged, bloodthirsty sadists. The film had an impressive festival run that began at the prestigious 74th annual Locarno Film Festival, and celebrated screenings at the Fantasia International Film Festival and Fantastic Fest, where the film took awards for Best First Feature in Montreal and for Best Horror and Best Direction in Austin. Our review is available here following its Fantasia run. Said Craig Engler, […]

Fantasia XXV Review: Rob Jabbaz’s THE SADNESS, Crowdpleasing Horror, Evolved

Lee B. Golden III

I only have maybe two or three other people who write for this site who are more suited to discuss horror cinema. Regardless, the genre I usually cover sometimes veers into the gruesome and horrific enough that my own viewing experience ultimately warrants some growth along the way, and so upon covering Fantasia, I couldn’t resist checking out The Sadness, the feature directorial debut of Taiwan-based Canadian filmmaker Rob Jabbaz who, as of this write-up, just won Best First Feature out of the festival. Other critics and festival programmers who’ve seen this film have had plenty to say, in addition to this being a film definitely made for a crowd. Under lesser-life threatening circumstances, I would certainly agree, and not for nothing either with Jabbaz’s inaugural crowdpleaser serving up as a timely arrival for theatergoers, at a very tender moment in history more than a year and a half following […]

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THE SADNESS: A Breakdown Of The Blood-Flooded, Hyper-Violent NSFW Trailer For Rob Jabbaz’s Explosive New Horror

Christina Ortega

Since writing for this awesome website, I’ve seen many trailers. Sometimes I request to write up particular ones before other writers can claim them, sometimes they are sent to me by the editor because he thinks a film would be my cup of tea. So when he sent me the trailer for The Sadness, which all I could see from a still was that it was some kind of horror film, I eagerly clicked play. There is no other way to write about this trailer than to give you a play by play of my thoughts: At the start: This is a slow opening. There is a couple in an apartment. Hmm. Maybe the building is haunted? 19 seconds: Okay, we are in a subway now. A tight, cramped place with too many strangers. This could be interesting. 27 seconds: She rejects a stranger who oversteps by touching her. He […]