Dream Home (2010)Wai dor lei ah yut ho (original title)
Synopsis: Cheng Li-sheung is a young, upwardly mobile professional finally ready to invest in her first home. But when the deal falls through, she is forced to keep her dream alive - even if it means keeping her would-be neighbors dead.
I get that this seems to be intended as a socially satirical slasher, as it obviously takes very heavy-handed shots at the brutal modern world of high price rentals in Hong Kong that's filled with cut throat estate agents. But it's still pretty much just a very gory slasher.
There's some backstory involved about why the woman is totally obsessed with living well over her means, but the movie sort of jumps around times and is a little confusing at first. Once it all comes together it does make sense, but it's just not much of a plot really, just more of a device for the bloody special effects and such. The effects are shockingly great and very gory and the director does a wonderful job overall. There's some dark humor that occasionally lightens the brutal feel of the movie.
I got the feeling we were supposed to sympathize with the woman, but with her ruthlessly slaughtering people whose only real crime was that they lived where she couldn't afford, it's rather easy to hate her.
In the end though, it's a very brutal import that's still just a very cliched slasher. Worth a watch probably only to horror fans (and only the non-squeamish ones at that).
5/10
