Film Review: Dream Home (2010)

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

REVIEW:

Several films have arrived the scene from the Asian sector that involve some level of brutality or torture. Dream Home actually takes a different approach by interweaving the cultural status of Hong Kong into its premise. We are told about the high cost of flats that are available at extremely inflated prices. The population is overcrowded and now only the choice few who can afford it may own a high rise living quarter. Our main character goes by the name of Cheng Li-sheung.

Cheng Li-sheung works a rather mundane job of telemarketing fiances but has done well over the years as she has stored away her savings. Her sights are set on being able to someday afford a flat of her own that overlooks the water. Her father is ill and she is afraid that she may have to sacrifice all her savings just to take care of his medical condition. Though life has dealt Cheng Li-sheung a pretty sh*tty hand over the years. Thru a flashback we find that her family was forced out of a prime spot due to the local owners who wanted the building torn down to rebuild.Cheng Li-sheung will stop at nothing to attain her goal even if that includes killing off some of her future neighbors to help keep the cost of living there down. Its a rather unique take on dreams, financing and a volatile market that could fall at any time for those who aren’t keeping up with the trends and the fragile stock market. Cheng Li-sheung’s character though brutal and unrelenting is also the center of compassion as we relive her pains thru a fragmented past.

What comes as a shock is not “just” the idea that she is willing to kill to turn the tables in her favor, but that she possesses “such” a cold blooded approach to taking lives. Make no mistake, there is plenty of horrific scenery to choose from here as she guts open victims, shoves a wood plank into them, suffocates a pregnant woman with a a vacuum and stabs into others with the force of an insane maniacal cold blooded murderer. The contrast is felt in her seemingly pleasant character profile who offsets the balance with attacks that seem way outside the person she appears to be. Thru this savagery we also get a look into the reality of homeowners in the China, Hong Kong area. “Dream Home” offers a perspective that is as calculating as it is brutal. The social commentary is what seals it by keeping a healthy balance of gore versus human need. Hats off to the fine editing and cinematography that almost seems sculpture like at times showing the meticulous structural horizon of Hong Kong’s towering structures.

Ho-Cheung Pang has truly created a masterwork that’s full of cultural awakenings and still manages to thrill audiences with a deadly serving of selfish driven chaos. combined with a master score by Gabriele Roberto, Dream Home may be one of the essential 21st century accurate releases to arrive on the Asian horror market in quite some time. Brilliance is deliver with subtle story telling and a hard core attack. You may ask yourself while watching this, is our society on this same path? Are we so far removed from executing our own means to attain what we most desire?  Western audiences may also sympathize towards the Asian way of life which appears much more confined and under struggle than what our current situations might be.

Dream Home (2010)