Dream Home
This review contains spoilers
Set in Hong Kong during a housing crisis, a young woman goes to extreme lengths to aquire her dream home.
STORY/PLOT
Dream Home is a slasher movie about a young woman called Shueng's descent into insanity as she goes on a brutal killing spree in an apartment block to reduce the price of the apartment she wants.
Credit where credit is due it is a fresh idea in terms of motive for a psycho in a slasher movie. I didn't enjoy how conflicting the tone feels in this film however. It seems to go for dark and serious family drama while simultaneously being comedic to at times, a point of being ridiculous. Some of the comedy is quite good and complements the crazy premise quite well, but some of it is just outright daft. It just didn't hit for me personally.
I wasn't a massive fan of the storytelling either. I'm all for a timeline that jumps back and forth to tell a story and explain motives etc, it can be a great way to reveal key plot points if it's done well but I found this to be a bit erratic and messy in Dream Home. The story itself is decent enough though, it is a different and fresh kind of slasher movie.
The reason I heard about Dream Home however is the violence and that, for the most part, is excellent.
ACTING/CHARACTERS
Overall just alright. There's some good moments, there's some poor moments by brief side characters and the characters as a whole aren't really memorable.
Josie Ho who plays Shueng was solid enough, but the actual character isn't overly likeable. The best bit of acting was probably from the security guard at the beginning, he really looked like he was choking. I kind of wonder if he was.
CINEMATOGRAPHY/VISUALS
Easily the strongest element of the movie. Some of the violence depicted and the effects used in this movie is brutal. Shueng is a very sick lady and there's some really creative ideas here. There's just one really poor use if CGI that I always hate to see, but other than that the effects are pretty brilliant, very visceral.
The camera work is pretty good aswell. The shots used of Hong Kong, how packed full of tall, bland apartment blocks it is in such a small area almost completely backed up the idea that someone could go on a rampage, mercilessly tearing through a bunch of residents in the hopes of getting an affordable home with actual living space. Great use of colour grading aswell making it feel really depressing living there.
SOUNDTRACK/AUDIO
Standard. Nothing bad but nothing really stood out either. No memorable soundtrack but didn't offend. Standard use of tension building with ques. Average all round.
OVERALL
Dream Home isn't a bad film, it just didn't hit with me. I had high hopes so maybe that's why but overall, I thought it was average. It is worth a watch at least once though especially if you're a gore fan, just don't expect a technically strong well rounded movie.
STORY/PLOT
Dream Home is a slasher movie about a young woman called Shueng's descent into insanity as she goes on a brutal killing spree in an apartment block to reduce the price of the apartment she wants.
Credit where credit is due it is a fresh idea in terms of motive for a psycho in a slasher movie. I didn't enjoy how conflicting the tone feels in this film however. It seems to go for dark and serious family drama while simultaneously being comedic to at times, a point of being ridiculous. Some of the comedy is quite good and complements the crazy premise quite well, but some of it is just outright daft. It just didn't hit for me personally.
I wasn't a massive fan of the storytelling either. I'm all for a timeline that jumps back and forth to tell a story and explain motives etc, it can be a great way to reveal key plot points if it's done well but I found this to be a bit erratic and messy in Dream Home. The story itself is decent enough though, it is a different and fresh kind of slasher movie.
The reason I heard about Dream Home however is the violence and that, for the most part, is excellent.
ACTING/CHARACTERS
Overall just alright. There's some good moments, there's some poor moments by brief side characters and the characters as a whole aren't really memorable.
Josie Ho who plays Shueng was solid enough, but the actual character isn't overly likeable. The best bit of acting was probably from the security guard at the beginning, he really looked like he was choking. I kind of wonder if he was.
CINEMATOGRAPHY/VISUALS
Easily the strongest element of the movie. Some of the violence depicted and the effects used in this movie is brutal. Shueng is a very sick lady and there's some really creative ideas here. There's just one really poor use if CGI that I always hate to see, but other than that the effects are pretty brilliant, very visceral.
The camera work is pretty good aswell. The shots used of Hong Kong, how packed full of tall, bland apartment blocks it is in such a small area almost completely backed up the idea that someone could go on a rampage, mercilessly tearing through a bunch of residents in the hopes of getting an affordable home with actual living space. Great use of colour grading aswell making it feel really depressing living there.
SOUNDTRACK/AUDIO
Standard. Nothing bad but nothing really stood out either. No memorable soundtrack but didn't offend. Standard use of tension building with ques. Average all round.
OVERALL
Dream Home isn't a bad film, it just didn't hit with me. I had high hopes so maybe that's why but overall, I thought it was average. It is worth a watch at least once though especially if you're a gore fan, just don't expect a technically strong well rounded movie.
Mini Review: Dream Home attempts to be an ultra violent, serious family drama comedy slasher but comes across as too conflicting with it's themes and tones. The gore for the most part is great, it's very creative, and at it's core lies a fun unique slasher movie but it's failure to pick an identity, strange atmosphere and storytelling and boring characters let it down.
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