Dream Home
| Dream Home | |
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Theatrical poster
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| Traditional | 維多利亞壹號 |
| Simplified | 维多利亚壹号 |
| Directed by | Pang Ho-cheung |
| Produced by |
Josie Ho Subi Liang Conroy Chan Pang Ho-cheung |
| Written by | Jimmy Wan Derek Tsang Pang Ho-cheung |
| Story by | Pang Ho-cheung |
| Starring | Josie Ho Eason Chan Derek Tsang Lawrence Chou Juno Mak Michelle Ye Norman Chu Wong Ching |
| Music by | Gabriele Roberto |
| Cinematography | Yu Lik-wai |
| Edited by | Wenders Li |
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Production
company |
852 Films
Making Films |
| Distributed by | Edko Films |
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Release date
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Running time
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96 minutes |
| Country | Hong Kong |
| Language | Cantonese |
| Box office | $378,650 |
Dream Home (維多利亞壹號 Wai dor lei ah yut ho, literally Victoria No. 1) is a 2010 Hong Kong slasher film directed and co-written by Pang Ho-cheung. The film is the story of Cheng Lai-sheung (Josie Ho) who saves up money to buy her dream home. After the sellers decide to turn her down, she goes into a murderous frenzy.
Dream Home was originally meant to be released in October 2009 in Hong Kong but due to legal disputes between 852 Films and the director the film premiered in Italy on 23 April 2010 and in Hong Kong on 13 May. The film received mixed reviews which focused on whether or not the satirical and horrific scenes worked well together.
In Hong Kong, Cheng Lai-sheung (Josie Ho) works two jobs with the hope of earning enough money to buy her own apartment with a view of the Victoria Harbour. In mixed chronological order, we see scenes from Lai-sheung's past. In her childhood, her family and friends are evicted from their low-rent housing so that developers can build expensive flats. Later in life, she vows to buy her mother and father a new apartment, but is unable to fulfill her promise before her mother dies. When her father becomes ill, she begins searching in earnest for a new place, having an obsession for the Victoria Bay No. 1 high-rise address from a childhood vow that she would one day buy a flat near the harbour so that her uncle would not have to walk there and back on a daily basis and not needing to search for him every evening.
The bank will only give her a 70% mortgage and payments would reach over $15,000. Unfortunately, because of an oversight in declaring her father's medical history, she no longer has insurance to pay for his expensive treatment and has to take a second job. After Lai-sheung does save enough for a down-payment, her father's medical bills become excessive. When she asks her married lover for a loan to cover these, he refuses. One night her father has trouble breathing and, instead of giving him his oxygen, Lai-sheung allows him to die. The insurance payment now adds enough money to her current savings to purchase her dream flat.
On her way to finalize the purchase, there is a hike in the stock market that makes the owners decide to raise the price. This sends Lai-sheung into a frenzy where she goes to the flats and attacks people who live and work there, killing them with low-tech, household items. During the course of the final killings, the police arrive at the flat, demanding entry. A struggle ensues during which both officers are killed.
Returning to her day job, Lai-sheung receives a call from her agent saying the owners of the flat she wishes to buy are willing to sell after all. Lai-sheung suggests that they might want to sell for a lower price, since there were 11 murders in the building the previous evening. That night, Lai-sheung's lover comes round to pick her up, but she turns her back on him and walks away, ending their relationship. The film concludes with Lai-sheung staring out at the harbour as newscasts discuss how America's worsening subprime mortgage crisis is beginning to have global repercussions.
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