DREAM HOME

This was the second film that director Pang Ho-Cheung had at MIFF this year, and was the one that originally I was more interested in, because it dealt in the horror genre.  In truth, it is more of a horror-drama, because the majority of the film is about a woman who is saving money to buy her dream home.  She doesn’t go out with her friends, or buy herself anything, in fact it appears that she leads a rather dull life, just in the effort to be able to afford the deposit for a place that had sentimental value for both her and her dad, when she was a child. 

Like “Love In A Puff” [see my review here],   Pang Ho-Cheung adds another layer of reality to “Dream Home” as he is basing the film on the current (well, the film is set in 2007) home market in Hong Kong.  We are given a title card at the beginning of the film stating that since the handover in 1997, the average Hong Kong person’s wage has only increased by 1%, while the price of a small, modest unit has increased dramatically more than that.  Obviously because of this, owning your own home is very expensive and too hard for most people to do.  This is the drama of the film, but throughout it, we are witness to a number of brutal (and quite graphic) murders committed by a woman.  Having the horror scenes edited throughout the story without context is a little jarring but you start to get used to it. 

Ultimately we find out that the killer is the girl saving for her dream home.  She has been pushed to the limit, as once she finally has enough for the deposit, the sellers change their mind and ask for more money.  The motive for these mass murders of innocents is in fact to lower the value of the apartments in that building, which it does and the girl gets her house at a reduced price. 

However the film ends with another kick in the guts for the girl (and one, this time, she has no power over), as the purchase of her house coincides with the beginning of the global economic crisis, meaning her mortgage is going to go through the roof.  It is a great ending. 

A quick note about the kills in “Dream Home”, they were all very imaginative and extremely gory, which I was not expecting.  In fact, this film has some of the best kills I have seen in a horror film for quite some time and the effects guys should be proud of the work they have done.  Overall, while there is a lot to like in “Dream Home”, the mix of horror and drama is a little jarring which does not benefit the film, but it is still a worthwhile watch, but out of the two Pang Ho-Cheung films at MIFF this year, surprisingly I ended up preferring his romantic comedy, “Love In A Puff”.

3 Stars - Viewed at the 2010 Melbourne International Film Festival