My thesis that Hong Kong can't or won't make nasty Category
3 films like they did in the good old times during the
Golden Era (1980's and early 1990's) due to the strict censorship rules
in mainland China, have been proven wrong.
Director Pang Ho Cheung and actress/producer Josie Ho has made Dream
Home and it's a Fan film for genre lovers,
for lovers of the Slasher Horror. It was made in 2010 and this UK edition
Blu-ray was released first in May 2015 and
Uncut then. The film has been released also in Hong Kong but then Cut
with some 30 seconds from the worst (or best
if you're a sick Gorehound) scenes with the pregnant woman miscarriage
murder and the ejaculating penis stuff.
There's an interview with Josie Ho in the extras and she was the one
that craved full tilt Gore, and Pang and Ho came
up with something that parallels most of the gruesome stuff from the
old legendary category 3 nasties.
I guess that the producers didn't want to conquer the China market with
this one, or maybe i'm wrong, maybe Dream
Home has been shown also in mainland (but surely with lotsa cuts then)
?
The Film has been met with almost rave reviews from
western critics as a smart and violent satire for cineasts.
Well, it was surely good looking in a cold way with amazing photography
of Hong Kong City and satirizes the wild chase
after some place to live in the crowded ex-British Crown Colony, and
it's also a gruesome homage to the Slasher film.
But, i don't know .... there's some hideous death scenes for sure and
floods of bloody gore, but i'm not sure Pang Ho-
Cheung's heart was 100 % into this. I didn't find it very funny and
the disgustingly detailed murders (in a great looking
combination of make up prosthesis and CGI effects) felt a bit contrived.
It fell between 2 chairs for me (and i doubt if this swedish saying
works elsewhere) it looked dynamite but it wasn't
funny or scary for me. For a Slasher to be good (for me that is ...)
it must feel 1. a bit Gritty and have 2. some Pulse.
That's some floating essentials, gritty and pulse, and hard to specify
what that is exactly, but this film didn't have it.
BUT - Josie Ho is GREAT in the main role of the murderer
and the killings are so gruesomely and expertly made, that
i'm sure even the gore maestro Tom Savini would be highly impressed.
Josie Ho, the billionaire daughter and actress from many, many HK films.
When writing this text i've just seen her in a
completely different role, as an ex-badminton champion in the 2015 Derek
Kwok comedy Full Strike.
The nastiest scene must surely be the murder of the pregnant woman (Michelle
Ye) .... that was just depressing, yuck!
A Woman, Cheng Lai Seung (Josie Ho) works hard and has
set her eyes on a Dream apartment in a elegant house with
exclusive Hong Kong harbour view. To get it she has to have a lot of
money for the base payment but she also have to
do some things, well, she thinks that anyway. She must murder a lot
of people. In flashbacks from 2007 to 1991, 1997
and 2004 we get to see the background to her hideous acts.
Well anyway, whatever else you have to say - This film is Unique
as a Hong Kong film, a rare (if not likeable) bird
anamorphic widescreen 2.35:1, cantonese DTS HD master audio 5.1 with
english subtitles. Extras: Interview with
co-producer/actress Jose Ho (9 minutes, 2011 in english), theatrical
trailer, gallery and a textsheet with viewing notes
