Viewed – 28  August 2012  DVD

This Hong Kong drama follows a struggling woman attempting to own her ‘dream home’ whilst also caring for her sick father and holding down two jobs.  In the current climate, homes in Hong Kong have sky-rocketed, and affording her ideal place is not going to come easy.  So what does this young, fresh-faced woman choose to do about it?  How about murdering her would-be neighbours??

This is not your normal tale of single girl makes it big in the city, falls for the nice guy and lives happily ever after.  Oh no, this one offers violence of the highest degree, featuring scenes of absolute brutal mayhem (death by bong, anyone?).  Yes, it’s not at all believable, and its pretty hard to even approach sympathy for this woman who is clearly a psychotic nutcase … but what viewers of this sort of movie will be hoping for is elaborate gory deaths, buckets of blood and probably a bit of nudity thrown in for good measure.  Well lets me just say, you have all that and more!

Directed with a fair amount of skill by Ho-Cheung Pang  and with a rather startling central turn by Josie Ho, I went to into this with my eyes open, expecting something mad and gruesome, and I got it.  However, what I wasn’t expecting was quite a cleverly told story, with a narrative that jumps back and forth from present day to the past, only letting the viewer see the full picture as the movie drew to a close.  Although this was often nasty (the deaths, whilst imaginative are quite cruel and drawn out) I have to applaud the writers for not taking the straight forward approach and at least keeping me guessing.

A thoroughly trashy, but fun nights viewing – if you have the stomach for it!

Verdict:  3 /5