Dream Home is another film that seems to get mentioned whenever anyone starts up a conversation about extreme horror movies. While the movie is gory and brutal, I certainly wouldn't lump it in the category of extreme horror. It is so much more than that sub genre would ever give it credit for. It manages to combine many things to become greater than the sum of it's parts, so mentioning it in the same breath as Men Behind the Sun or Philosophy of a Knife certainly does the movie no justice whatsoever. There is a real story at the heart of this film.
Cheng Lai-Sheung dreams of owning an apartment with a harbor view. She knows exactly which apartment she wants. Cheng works two jobs to save for her dream home, but when the opportunity arises for her to purchase the apartment, it seems she still cannot afford it. Cheng then realiazes that to get what she wants, she will have to do whatever it takes to acquire her dream. Even if it means getting her hands bloody.
Dream Home shares it's running time between flashbacks of Cheng's past, and her activities in the present, coming across as rather Tarantino-esque. With the film showing this, it means the audience invest a great deal into Cheng, and even though she commits despicable act after despicable act, it is impossible not to like her. The story may be complex, but it never gets confusing, and flows along at a great pace that keeps the viewer interested in what is going on. Cheng's past is deeply saddening, and certainly puts a lot of emphasis on why she is behaving like she is.
At it's heart, Dream Home is a slasher movie, and the kills are some of the most spectacular and brutal I have seen in a long time. Every single death will have you inhaling deeply in shock at the acts of brutality on screen. Fortunately, Dream Home doesn't rely solely on the kills to tell it's story. It also features a rather poignant social commentary about the housing situation in China, and just how expensive property is there, and what somebody would do just for a piece of property.
The film is filed with both a dark sense of humor and bloody, almost operatic scenes of death and murder. It flickers between dark emotional family drama and gory slasher, and works in every single way, not losing an ounce of it's emotion or brutality along the way.
Darkest regards......Dani.
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