Reviews

I was very excited to see this at the Brooklyn Horror Film Fest after seeing the directors involved, but most segments were overwhelmingly mediocre. The concept is fantastic and most segments are visually compelling but ultimately fall flat.

The Cobbler's Lot, The Palace of Horrors, and Al Karisi were the strongest and best executed, where Melon Heads was the weakest, being laughable at best. The Cobbler's Lot was definitely the stand-out short, with a beautiful muted palette of unique visuals and dark comedy. Inspired by silent era and 70s psychedelic film, this was a charming ending to a disappointing anthology.

As a huge fan of the comics and first film, I was completely surprised by how much I disliked this sequel. Both films are incredibly lighthearted when compared to the comics, but "Kick-Ass 2" lacks the charm that the first captured, regardless of violent nature. I'm a big fan of action movies and have no problem with violence or profanity in films, but the over-use of unnecessary gross-out gags felt out of place and ruined this sequel for me. I was already turned off by the unnecessary changes made to the storyline (when compared to the comics) but the countless projectile vomit/feces shots completely ruined the entire experience for me. For any fans of the comics, note that changes to the story HAD to be made to compensate for Hit-Girl's age (who appears to be 16 in the film). Many other new details were added to the story, but many elements were changed, for the worst in most cases.

"Dream Home" has been a title I've been waiting to watch since it's release. Most reviews I had read pinned it as a "darkly hilarious" satirical horror film with high levels of style and gore. The style and gore are there alright, but as far as humor is concerned, I was a little let down. The film does have it's quirks and witty lines, not to mention a few "so-bad-it's-good" effects, but it didn't quite live up to the reputation that I had known it for. That being said, the film is shot beautifully and uses a wide variety of creative shots and transitions. It plays with the time-line well and develops Cheng's character at a very nice pace. Many of the deaths are drawn out and disturbing, which would make this a difficult film to watch if the effects were done with more care. Some over-the-top gore may be humorous to some, but in using characters that the audience can relate to, it is more easily said to be horrific. All in all, though it fell a little short of the hype I've been hearing, "Dream Home" is a must for any Chinese or Asian horror fans!