By MICHAEL GINGOLD

After tearing through the festival circuit (and landing on RUE MORGUE’s cover), the undead feature will terrorize the streaming service soon.

Shudder has announced its acquisition of THE SADNESS, which will be available exclusively on Shudder in the U.S., Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand beginning Thursday, May 12. Written and directed by Canadian filmmaker Rob Jabbaz on locations in Taipei, Taiwan, it stars Regina Lei, Berant Zhu, Tzu Chiang Wang and In Ru Chen. According to the official synopsis, the film “follows a young couple, played by Lei and Zhu, trying to reunite amid a city ravaged by a plague that turns its victims into deranged, bloodthirsty sadists.

“It’s been such an enjoyably bizarre journey getting THE SADNESS made and distributed!” Jabbaz says. “I’m incredibly excited for everyone out there to finally see it!” Adds Shudder general manager Craig Engler, “THE SADNESS is a brutal, boundary-pushing shocker, one of the boldest and bloodiest we’ve ever acquired. We anticipate it having a legendary and well-deserved following among Shudder members.”

THE SADNESS is so extreme, it was actually given trigger warnings by programmers at the many genre festivals it played. Says Michael Paszt of Raven Banner, THE SADNESS’ sales company and Canadian distributor, “From the moment we first saw THE SADNESS, we knew this was something special. The film reaches heights rarely attained in the horror space. Rob Jabbaz is definitely a talent to watch. Shudder is hands down the home for THE SADNESS and we look forward to continuing our partnership with them.”