In terms of raw horror, Shudder’s latest offering, The Sadness (2021) directed by Canadian filmmaker, Rob Jabbaz, is the best I’ve seen in quite a while. At first, I dismissed this subtitled, Taiwanese flick as yet another Covid-inspired zombie/28 Days Later retread – similar to the last Shudder flick I discussed, Virus: 32 (2022). Not so! While it’s true this movie does fit into that subgenre, it ramps up the horror elements to levels I’ve not seen in any of its peers. Simply put, this film is brutal. And, at the risk of coming across as a Sadist, I absolutely loved it.
I was asked to review Dawning of the Dead from the TERROR DAVES’ site, and I typed in BOLD letters “you had me at ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE!” This film has a well thought-out story line with great special effects and some great acting. I will say though that over the last few years there have been more misses than hits in this genre and I am glad to say this film falls into the latter. The director did a great job showing the global scale of a zombie apocalypse and there are many nods to the George Romero zombie classics. Improvised weapons harken to memories of Peter Jackson’s Dead Alive (1992) as well.
Terror from Beyond the Dave 