TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — A Taiwanese horror film featuring a new type of sentient "infected person" hits theaters in the country on Friday (Jan. 22).
The film, titled "The Sadness" (哭悲), is produced by Machi Xcelsior Studios (麻吉砥加電影有限公司) and features plentiful gory makeup by IF SFX Art Maker (覺藝工作室). The story is about an outbreak of a new virus that causes humans to transform into horrifying, bloodthirsty mutants that can think and speak.
(Machi Xcelsior Studios image)
Although Taiwanese films usually restrict the amount of blood and gruesome makeup to avoid receiving a restricted rating, Director Robert Anthony Jabbaz (賈宥廷) was cited by CNA as saying that with his film, he aimed to provide audiences with more realistic flesh and blood. IF SFX Art Maker cofounders Esther and Victor Chang (張甫丞) told the news agency that the humans are infected by a virus that turns them more into a mutant than a zombie and to add a sense of realism, her team had researched various real diseases to create the new type of "infected person."
IF SFX Art Maker also designed dozens of special characters for the film, such as evil elderly women, homicidal office workers, and victims of eye injuries, all with distinctive appearances. Regarding the appearance of the mutants, Chang said, "I hoped that the infected persons would appear to be very aggressive, not afraid of pain, and also want to attack others."
(Machi Xcelsior Studios image)
In conjunction with a large number of scenes of blood and gore, the special effects team spent up to three months to produce a large number of artificial heads, prostheses, organs, and other special props. They also created mock heads of the actors which could explode, spray blood, or portray various severe facial and cranial injuries.
By creating physical models, the team said they cut down on post-production costs for computer-generated imagery. The team added that in the process "We've created many interesting props and you can go to the cinema to see them in detail."
(Machi Xcelsior Studios image)
The film is set to be released in theaters in Taiwan on Jan. 22.
(Machi Xcelsior Studios image)
