Popular reviews

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  Review by ALISTAIR LEACH ★★★

  I know Ken Loach has now basically retired but his English language remake about this problem the film is based on and the UK housing crisis, would have BEEN OFF THE HOOK!!!!!!!!!!

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  Review by CinemaVoid 🏴‍☠️ ★★★★

  Dream Home is a malicious, sadistic slasher where the final girl is the subprime mortgage crisis.

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  Review by Kevflix And Chill ★★★★

  #SlasherSaturday
  This has some excellent gore, varied kills and a darkly ironic sense of humor. A woman striving to purchase her dream home faces roadblock after roadblock. She resorts to brutal murder in order to make her dream come true. The nonlinear storytelling somewhat obscures the machinations behind her massacre and how exactly it will help her get her dream home, but it is clear there’s some method to her madness from the beginning. The kills in this are creative and gruesome often employing zip ties in various ways. The first kill in particular had me wincing, for sure. Warning regarding one scene in which a drunk naked woman is groped while unconscious and forced to snort coke. It’s a…

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  Review by Tears_in_Rain ★★★★ 6

  What a delightful little slice of Hong Kong slasher fun. From the Hitchcockian title sequence, to the fantastic kills, to the pitch black satire, almost everything about this put a big old smile on my face. My only complaint would be that it drags a bit during some of the flashback sequences. There are two parallel storylines. One presents a night of grisly murders, and the other is told in flashback, explaining the motive for the murders. Although, the description for this on Letterboxd gives that motive away.

  I can't stress enough, however, just how fun some of the kills are. I've seen some people compare it to the New French Extremity film, Inside. I don't think that comparison entirely…

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  Review by Tony the Terror 🎃 ★★★½ 1

  I’m pretty sure I liked this a bit more on its initial release, but then I haven’t watched it since then so maybe not? Either way, it’s still a fun and gory Hong Kong slasher about a woman who takes her interest in property values a little too far. And maybe the fact that this movie has actually managed to get exponentially more relatable over the years is part of the reason I don’t seem to enjoy it quite as much.

  Still, the violence level is close to a 10 and the kills are almost unpleasantly cruel (but not quite) so it’s well worth a watch and even a rewatch.

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  Review by Sean Gilman ★★★½

  Extremely brutal and gory black black comedy about one woman’s obsessive pursuit of an apartment with a view of the sea. The grotesqueries are beautifully shot by regular Jia Zhangke cinematographer Yu Lik-wai. 

  The most disturbing thing about it though was that my cat seemed to be super interested in all the most violent parts. Hope he’s not getting any ideas.

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  Review by Sin ✊🏿 ★★★ 3

  This is...ok.

  I enjoyed Josie Ho in the lead as the obsessed and increasingly deranged Lai-sheung. And I really dig the grimly satirical premise and the subtextual critique of an absurd economic reality (i.e., subprime mortgage crisis) and its exaggerated take on how such a reality can motivate someone to take warped, desperate measures.

  Unfortunately, Dream Home leans a bit too much into dark exploitation while being too thin on narrative. The former is fine, but the latter just left me wanting. Fans of slasher films not looking for anything too deep may really enjoy this as it's extremely brutal and gruesome.

  For me, though, some of my enjoyment was sapped due to the narrative being unnecessarily messy with a chopped up chronology constantly shifting from "the present" between flashforwards and flashbacks. It isn't clever, it's annoying.

  Still, overall, if you're into bloody and disgusting fare, this certainly has what you're looking for.

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  Review by sirvived ★★

  I have mixed feelings about the film. While it delivers on the gore and violence, well that's all it had really. The kills are super gnarly and pretty inventive, also it's handsomely shot, but the fractured narrative constantly kill momentum for me. I don't think the fractured approach actually adds anything to the story. It ends up feeling disjointed with a ridiculous number of flashbacks to serve as a backstory, but they don't work quite well and give you crude excuses for the killer's behavior. I simply have no affinity for the killer or victims. Also, it tries to be oversentimental but the motivation is very silly and unlikely.

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  Review by Gregor Kreyca ★★★★ 4

  One of mine, if not my favorite Hong Kong CAT III movie. This one (in it’s uncut version) is really hardcore. It’ also very well directed and acted, surprisingly (and morbidly) funny at times and has a poignant social commentary. About how a ruthless and merciless society creates ruthless and merciless people. Dark stuff, but also damn entertaining. If you’re a CAT III fan and haven’t seen this one yet, go check it out.

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  Review by Lynn Betts ★★★★

  #SlasherSaturday catchup

  (July 29 scheduled viewing date)

  
  DREAM HOME is a multi-faceted slasher that is as much hustler drama as a horror show... A little like PARASITE with regards to the sentiment.

  It's a slasher villain / anti-hero character study in a society with little compassion, and an ode to the working class in a dog-eat-dog world, with the universal housing crisis and strife of the service and sex worker at the very heart of it. A little bit like the Slovenian indie A CALL GIRL but far more murder and mayhem.

  Featuring the most intensely felt kills I have seen in a while, it's often hard to get behind them. It's half eat-the-rich (... To become the rich, or…

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  Review by Moviesludge ★★★★½

  I can't think of a more logical and obvious reason for the creation of a monster than by a lifetime of inflicted discomforts, abuses, and irreversible injustices. In the case of the protagonist of Dream Home, those elements are caused by an all too familiar system of completely soulless and indifferent financial and infrastructural bullshit that rains down hard (seemingly) every day of her life. She has one goal in her life: To buy a home with a view of the ocean. Every entity she encounters tells her that she doesn't have enough money, or it isn't the right time, or she should be focusing her energy on something else, or she should be trying to get a different place…

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  Review by Shreesh ★★★½

  #SlasherSaturday

  This was a hyper violent, no-nonsense, funny slasher that was really entertaining. The lead Josie Ho gave a chilling performance, a relatable psycho 😅. The kills were gut wrenching and painful. My mind is thinking of so many dirty jokes about the kills but I leave it to you guys to witness the carnage. The story is predictable but the 90 minute runtime manages to keep the film engaging. A wild home hunt that will give nightmares to people who live in apartments.

  A solid 79% for this.

  #SlasherSaturday Ranked