The Sadness 2022

In contemporary Taiwan, a heated debate erupts among medical professionals and government officials regarding the “Alvin virus,” a highly contagious infection that mimics influenza-like symptoms. Despite growing concerns, the government remains reluctant to implement large-scale measures to prevent its spread, fueling widespread skepticism among ordinary citizens about the very existence of the virus. Meanwhile, some virologists fear that Alvin may possess the capacity to mutate and wreak havoc on a larger scale.

As the situation spirals out of control, Jim (actor’s name) and Kat, a young Taipei couple, find themselves entangled in a gruesome reality when they stumble upon a blood-soaked crime scene during their morning commute. After dropping Kat off at the train station, Jim heads to a nearby café, where he witnesses chaos unfold as a disheveled older woman with sunken eyes attacks patrons, spitting phlegm and setting ablaze an employee’s arm with hot cooking oil. The individual she targets in her assault launches a counterattack against another customer, prompting Jim to flee into the street, pursued by hordes of infected locals.

As he desperately makes his way back to his apartment on foot, Jim receives frantic texts from Kat, pleading for him to rescue her as the situation at the train station rapidly deteriorates. His neighbor then launches a brutal attack, severing two of Jim’s fingers with garden shears. Undeterred, Jim manages to fend off his attacker and escape, employing a makeshift bandage to stem his bleeding.

Meanwhile, Kat finds herself trapped on a besieged train, where infected passengers mercilessly slaughter each other and infect the Businessman (actor’s name), who confesses an unsettling fascination with her. As pandemonium erupts aboard the train, Kat narrowly escapes with Molly, a woman brutally stabbed in the eye by the Businessman, only to be pursued by their assailant wielding an axe.

Kat and Molly stumble into the besieged hospital, where chaos reigns as patients overrun with the infection overwhelm medical staff. The government broadcasts a hasty emergency message vowing to take control of the situation, but just as the police begin to regain order, an infected general detonates a grenade on live television, killing the president in a gruesome display. As panic spreads through the hospital’s corridors, Kat seizes the opportunity to slip away into a stairwell, narrowly avoiding the Businessman’s brutal assault on Molly’s eye wound, which infects her.

The situation teeters on the brink of collapse as authorities struggle to contain the virus’s spread and citizens are forced to confront the very real possibility that their world is descending into chaos.

Jim flees the town’s perimeter, traversing a desolate landscape marred by glimpses of depravity along the way. He finally establishes contact with Kat, who reveals her location as they converse. As Jim’s emotions begin to overwhelm him, he is beset by vivid hallucinations - a discarded mannequin head appears to lap up his blood and sweat, a stark indication that the infection has taken hold within him.

Meanwhile, the relentless Businessman pursues Kat through the hospital’s restricted corridors, driven by an unyielding determination. However, she swiftly turns the tables on him, employing a fire extinguisher to deliver a fatal blow to his cranium. As Kat finds herself surrounded by chaos and destruction, she is suddenly rescued by Dr. Wong, who has been hiding in plain sight within the maternity ward’s sterile confines.

Wong reveals that he had been secretly working on a cure for the Alvin virus, a mutated strain that disrupts the delicate balance between the brain’s primal instincts and civilized behavior. He posits that the infected individuals’ uncontrollable weeping stems from their stark awareness of their actions, yet an inability to resist the urges that drive them - likening this phenomenon to the struggle against the natural impulse to blink.

As Kat stumbles upon a forgotten infant in a medical waste bin, Wong injects her with a serum containing the virus, attempting to determine if she possesses immunity. He confesses that he had previously conducted similar tests on the abandoned babies in the ward, but all of them succumbed to the infection, forcing him to take their lives. Should Kat become infected herself, Wong’s intention is to end her life as well; however, if she remains immune, she holds the key to halting the virus’s rapid spread.

Kat manages to convey her location to Jim, who has just arrived at the hospital. Upon realizing her immunity, Wong summons a military helicopter, planning to transport her to a safe haven. He cautions her that without his guidance, the soldiers will not be able to locate her. As they make their way to the rooftop, two infected individuals launch a surprise attack. Wong valiantly dispatches them but suffers a wound in the process. Jim then arrives on the scene and, after a fierce struggle, kills the now-infected Wong as he lies dying. In his final moments, Wong candidly confesses to having derived a twisted pleasure from ending the lives of the abandoned infants.

As Kat’s gaze falls upon the once-familiar visage of Jim, now transformed by the insidious infection, her instincts scream for caution. With calculated precision, she bars him from ascending to the rooftop sanctum, effectively trapping him at the foot of the stairwell. The formerly endearing individual now radiates an aura of malevolent intent, his eyes gleaming with a sinister intensity as he declares that the sensation of being infected is nothing short of euphoric. His parting words send shivers down Kat’s spine: a chilling promise to desecrate and destroy her very existence.

As she flees upward, her laughter echoes through the stairwell, a jarring cacophony that belies the depths of her psychological anguish. The door to the rooftop bursts open, and Kat emerges into the cool night air, her senses overwhelmed by the cacophony of gunfire that suddenly erupts in the distance.

Meanwhile, Jim’s fate is sealed; his lifeless form slumps against the stairwell gate, a macabre grin frozen on his face as he succumbs to the ravages of the infection. The staccato beat of gunfire provides a haunting accompaniment to his final moments, a grim reminder that in this desperate world, mortality lurks around every corner.