Title: Dream Home (Wai Dor Lei Ah Vut Ho - Original Title)Date: 2010
Synopsis: Sheung is a young woman living in Honk Kong, having grown up with a view of the sea, that was taken from her she resorts to all kinds of evil deeds in order to own her dream home.
Dream home is tense from the first moment, the opening scenes of a lobby makes you think that a corpse is going to come staggering from one of the doors. Well, no corpse but a slow, and painful death for a security guard who's napping on the job. With a penchant for using cable grips, the poor guard tries to free himself with a craft knife. It doesn't work, and he consequently ends up cutting into his neck, bleeding all over the place. I'm not really squeamish but watching that knife saw into his skin was hard to watch. That's another good thing about this film, the gore; it looks extremely realistic, even down to the intestines one poor guy loses after Sheung is done with him.
The time line of this film is all over the place flicking between the 'now' and the 'past' in order to show Sheung's upbringing and her later descent into a desperate attempt to afford her lavish marine-view flat. Interspersed into the story are news clips regarding the forthcoming recession, apparently the film is based on real events which when coupled with the reality of recession makes for a very creepy film indeed. It's an interesting insight into the crazy world of the Hong Kong property market at such a volatile time.
The film's gore is presented by the bucket-load, it gets almost invasive with lots of close ups and very questionable content. The deaths are often prolonged and Sheung almost dies several times herself, this film quickly becomes an on-the-edge-of-your-seat roller coaster ride. I was convinced Sheung would succumb when two police officers came knocking at the door of one of her victims (I say one, there were in fact 5 people in there). Just as you think it's all over for her, one of her naked female victims pops into view behind Sheung; a chunk of slat from the bed rammed into her mouth and clutching the knife that had until recently been through Sheung's Achilles heel. Ouch. A struggle between the four of them sees the girl trip in the blood all over the floor, the slat piercing her skull. One policeman gets shot, and the other takes a sizeable slash to the neck.
It's obvious Sheung has several screws missing, she even lets her father die one night. He's diagnosed with some respiratory disease, but he failed to tell Sheung when she was filling in forms for medical insurance. After finding out she'd been paying for invalid insurance, she simply lets him die while he wheezes away on his bed. She seems to have no remorse for her actions, even when she suffocates a pregnant woman, who's trauma forces her into labour, icky :|
Still, I can't fault this film, it was tense, invasive and well and truly got under my skin. The shots flow well, and there's plenty of variety there. Despite the subtitles the story was straight forward enough. Also I enjoyed reading the credits as there were a few great Engrish blips. A definite watch I'd recommend to any horror/gore fans. 9/10.
Until next time, film fans. My skin is crawling from this film, I'm off to get a shower *shudder*.
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