DREAM HOME - REVIEW


Just when you thought it was safe to go back to the cinema, long after a film like Antichrist, Dream Home comes along. Based on a true story (loosely, I'm guessing), the film explores Hong Kong's exorbitant rise in house prices post 1997 and director Ho-Cheung Pang peppers an otherwise pretty sensible story with some of the most graphic and disturbing serial-killings you'll see in any film.

Strangulations, guts pouring out, slashed penises, brains blown off, screwdrivers through the eye...the list goes on. And yet, unlike 99% of horror films out there, the story and its characters actually remain involving and intriguing throughout. Main character Cheung's desperation and her troubled relationship with her father add an extra weight to the story and help make Dream Home more than just another slasher flick.

And what a glorious slasher flick it is. With every new death more inventive and unpredictable than the last, Cheung crosses the line from desperation to complete madness and it's a delight...albeit a pretty gross delight, to witness.

Overall, Dream Home ticks all the right horror film boxes but is written well enough to also allow for genuine interest and an actual plot. And fear not, it's not all gloom and doom. There is some beautifully inappropriate black comedy here and there just to make everyone happy...except the squeamish.

Sorry... 

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