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Financial elites, luxury homes plummeting, salary cuts and mortgage defaults, human tragedy...

The keywords on the recent hot searches seem more and more absurd the more you look at them.

But it was many years ago.

There is a third-level film with a broken intestine, which predicts the magical today

Victoria One

Dream house

A work from 2010.

It is said that the full version was shown at a foreign film festival that year, and because of the large number of bloody scenes, three viewers were frightened and sent to the hospital...

In order to be successfully released in Hong Kong and Taiwan, some scenes were eventually deleted from the film.

but.

This is still possible in the past decade,The heaviest restricted-level Chinese film.

But the question is, is it just about the large scale?

Perhaps behind the bloody cruelty.

We can also see more hidden violence.

01

Let’s talk about what everyone is interested in first:

scale.

There are many Hong Kong films that feature large-scale violence, and many of them cause physical discomfort, such as the famous "Human Meat Barbecued Pork Buns", "Confidential Files of the Black Rat", "The King of Power", etc. From burning a little girl to punching someone's intestines out and piercing their stomachs, I don't know how many people have been traumatized by these films.

The only movie Sir remembers in which a woman can be the perpetrator of violence is "Victoria One".

A kung fu master like "Police Story"?

No.

Ah Chang in the film is just an ordinary woman.

She is a working class person.

He dresses simply and rustically, lives a straight life, and his main job is a bank customer service representative. He specifically calls you to ask if you want to borrow money, and he has a professional fake smile on his face all day long.

Her side job is as a waitress in a handbag store, and her secondary side job is... a mistress. However, she is not the kind who will act like a spoiled child, but the kind who brings her own sweet talk to coax her boyfriend and even pays for the room.

But on a certain Halloween.

Ah Chang, who seemed unable to even lift a hammer, decided to pick up her weapon and head to a multi-million mansion to commit a murder that left 11 dead and 12 dead...

How could such an ordinary woman kill so many people?

While interspersing Pang's humor, the director also gave the killing a clumsy pain.

The first person to die was the building security guard.

At this time, Ah Chang did not have much experience. She took advantage of the security guard's sleep and tied a plastic chain around his neck, intending to suffocate him to death.

As a result, the security guard was startled and picked up a knife to try to cut the chain, but in the end he only cut the throat...

Wow, killing is so easy?

Ah Chang suddenly gained more confidence.

Go straight to the goal

A family of four with a nanny, a pregnant woman and a husband.

As for the way of dying, of course, each one has its own unique way of dying:

A steel pipe was inserted into the back of the nanny's head, and her eyeball flew out.

I have to say that A Chang is quite compassionate.

When treating pregnant women, they don’t use sharp objects to hurt them directly. Instead, they seal their heads in vacuum bags, and then insert a vacuum cleaner to slowly suck out all the oxygen inside…

Suddenly, my husband came home.

Hey, what's that sound?

Oh, it turned out that I stepped on the nanny's eyeball...

Of course, Ah Chang couldn't let this clever little ghost go.

And among them.

The most outrageous part is when Ah Chang breaks into a mansion where a sex party is taking place, and kills everyone one by one while they are taking drugs and reveling.

In particular, a man was stabbed to death by Ah Chang from behind while having sex.

The sexual organ was split into two pieces in the air.

At this time, the woman was unaware of the situation and thought the man was about to ejaculate, so she said, "You have so much," and finally died on the toilet.

Emm...it's as disgusting as it can be.

But you're saying that this is just a killing game, just showing off?

Not really.

Because after this visible bloody violence.

There is also violence that we cannot see.

02

Why did Ah Chang kill people?

Seeking revenge? Or is it related to feelings?

neither.

Because these two families had nothing to do with Ah Chang, the pregnant woman who was the most familiar to her was only someone she had met once.

There is actually only one reason why Ah Chang kills people indiscriminately

Create a haunted house.

That's right, if you kill everyone in the house, then when you put the house up for sale again, the price will obviously be much lower because of the murder.

so.

Is this another story of a cuckoo taking over the magpie's nest?

Not really.

Because compared to Ah Chang using violent means to "lower the price" of the house.

The rise in housing prices is even more "violent".

Let us go back to Ah Chang’s childhood

Anyone who has seen Hong Kong movies will never forget it.

Hong Kong's buildings are densely packed, and the difference in facilities and housing prices between different neighborhoods can be nearly a hundred times.

The place where Ah Chang lives is called "public housing".

Many years ago, the place she lived in could barely be called a "sea view room" because the pier was right downstairs, and her favorite thing to do was to accompany her grandfather, who was a sailor, and stare at the sea.

Until one day, the developer came.

I don’t know what happened, but my friend Jimmy, who used to live across the street, suddenly had no water or electricity at home, and a lot of water snakes appeared, so he moved away. Then, the unit where Jimmy lived was completely demolished and a magnificent sea view mansion was built.

The name is: Victoria One.

after that.

Ah Chang never saw the sea again because it was blocked by Victoria One.

As Ah Chang grew taller, she wanted her own room, and her younger brother was born.

Dad always told her:

I have no future and cannot afford a house. If you want to live in a room of your own, then study hard. When you grow up and have money, can't you buy your own house?

This became Ah Chang's obsession.

Ah Chang is very obedient.

She took her father's teachings to heart, studied hard, and was admitted to university (at that time, the admission rate of the University of Hong Kong was only about 14%).

But what is the result?

Ah Chang soon realized that housing prices had gone mad.

It just kept rising without any explanation.

The Victoria No. 1 that she had always dreamed of cost 2 million when she was in college, but it cost 3 million when she graduated. By 2007, it had exceeded 5 million...

It’s becoming increasingly unaffordable.

what to do?

At the beginning, Ah Chang did not complain about her fate.

She believes in the Lion Rock Spirit.

So they work diligently to make money and live frugally, hoping to catch up with the soaring housing prices with the money saved by lowering their quality of life.

But capital will not wait for you to catch up.

On the one hand, because the housing prices rose so much, Ah Chang not only could not afford the down payment at all, but even her request to increase the loan amount at her own bank was rejected.

Her leader told her to just give up.

On the other hand, Ah Chang's father is obviously not a lucky man: he has pneumoconiosis and the surgery costs hundreds of thousands of yuan. But Ah Chang has been using the high-priced insurance, which says:

We won’t report the medical history that was concealed…

Ah Chang was at a loss.

After a special service, she shamelessly borrowed money from her lover.

The other party said, "My money is all with my wife. Why don't you buy a house first? The price will drop if you buy now."

Alas, what a scumbag.

And when Ah Chang finally saved enough money for the down payment.

When you are ready to pay.

However, the surge in stock prices also triggered another round of house price increases.

The landlord then said directly

I'll refund your deposit and I won't sell it to you no matter what.

Ah Chang completely collapsed.

etc.

Since her lover wouldn't lend her money, the bank wouldn't lend her money, and her family couldn't possibly have any...

So how did Ah Chang save up enough money for the down payment?

Yes, by killing people.

This is also a plot with extremely strong recoil.

Because she didn't kill others, but her relatives.

On the night when my dad suffered from hypoxia, Ah Chang held the ventilator tightly. My dad didn't have the strength to call for help. He desperately pulled at the corner of Ah Chang's clothes, but Ah Chang still chose to turn her back.

Only if her father dies can Ah Chang get the 2 million insurance money and make enough for the down payment.

So, Ah Chang didn’t commit murder for money.

She just wanted to turn her dream house, which was rising in price faster than its face, into a haunted house quickly, so that the owner would have no chance to raise the price, and she could buy it at a low price...

But the problem is.

Can she really get what she wants?

03

Fourteen years later, when we look back at Victoria No. 1, we may no longer be surprised by the unprecedented scale of the film, nor puzzled by Ah Chang's motive for murder. I am afraid that we will ask ourselves more:

Why has it come to this?

There is a scene in the film in particular:

When Ah Chang was killing someone, she suddenly received a call from her boyfriend.

She didn't refuse.

Instead, she answered the phone as usual and started chatting with her boyfriend, her tone as calm as always.

I am afraid that compared with those violent means, this kind of human alienation is more terrifying.

So what is to blame for all this?

Real estate developer?

That seems to be the case on the surface.

The opening of the film has this data:

In 2007, the average income of Hong Kong citizens was HK$10,100, and citizens with incomes below the average accounted for 24% of the total population.

After 1997, the average income of citizens increased by 1%.

But in 2007 alone, Hong Kong property prices rose by 15%, and the Victoria One that Ah Chang wanted to buy had an average price of HK$8,000 per square foot, with a total price of HK$4.9 million.

This is the general background of this story.

Just like what Ah Chang's father said

Real estate developers have already "played around in Hong Kong".

As one of the city's most frontline builders, he could never afford to buy a decent unit in his entire life.

All I can do is watch the numbers go up and down.

But is that all?

Not really.

Firing at real estate developers is only the first meaning of the film.

The second level is about class.

Thinking back, what were the identities of the two families killed by Ah Chang?

One is the middle class.

The husband travels back and forth between Hong Kong and the mainland, while the wife does nothing at home and only knows how to shop, and there is also a maid at home.

This was the most common happy middle-class family seen in TV commercials at the time.

And the other one?

Rich second generation.

They don't have to work hard from nine to five like Ah Chang, but they can enjoy the best social resources, ignoring morality and even the law.

In the second-generation rich's house, the cabinets that display limited edition sneakers and figurines alone are as big as Ah Chang's entire room...

so.

Rather than saying it is "indiscriminate killing", it is better to say that the director's intention is to express the violent resistance of the lower class against the upper class in order to express his dissatisfaction with the stratification of the class.

Just like it is clearly stated that all people are created equal.

But who can explain

Why is it that some people live in Victoria One from birth, while some people work like slaves for decades and still cannot afford a haunted house?

Here we must focus on A Chang's massacre weapon.

A pile of construction site tools.

That is, it was the only legacy left to her by this father who had toiled for half his life and was penniless.

But it was precisely these worthless things that finally led Ah Chang to complete an extremely absurd and ultimate rebellion of the lower class against the upper class.

In the end, as the movie said at the beginning

"To survive in a crazy city, you have to be crazier than it is."

Ah Chang's killing is tangible and brutal.

But the killing of civilians by housing prices, the exploitation of the lower class by the upper class and the self-hypnosis of the lower class are like the overhead shot of buildings in the movies – terrifying and eerie, impossible to guard against and inescapable.

This is the most important expression of the film.

But the problem is.

Can such a resistance really succeed?

perhaps.

Compared to the venting of anger, the questioning and resistance, what "Victoria No. 1" ultimately focuses on is actually ourselves.

Back to the first scene at the beginning of the movie

The security guard tried to untie the plastic rope but ended up cutting the aorta, causing excessive blood loss.

This kind of death is full of black humor.

Does it sound like a self-deprecating statement by a house slave?

In an international metropolis where every inch of land is worth a lot of money, Hong Kong people have been wearing a tight ring since birth:

Do you want to stand out, rise up in social class, and live a happy life?

Then buy a house.

Buying a cramped, old house that can provide you with five-star service can prove

You are the one who wins in the jungle society.

And when you suddenly realize that your neck is being strangled and you can't breathe.

Want to escape.

It would be tantamount to suicide.

what to do?

no one knows.

Just like in the movie, Ah Chang’s tragic murder of her entire family caused the owner to lower the price by 1.5 million yuan, and finally the couple moved in happily.

But in reality...

In Hong Kong, when a house becomes a haunted house, it becomes a new hot commodity because its price drops.

However, does the absurdity of haunted houses only happen in Hong Kong?

You probably still remember it.

Two years ago, at a talk show conference, in order to find a school district house for his child in Shanghai, Meng Chuan had no choice but to let the agent take him to see a haunted house.

The agent said: This house is great value, it’s 2 million cheaper than an ordinary house!

Then Meng Chuan asked:

It really does exist.

At the end of "Victoria One", Ah Chang moved into a new house.

She looked at the sea view she had always dreamed of.

A look of confusion.

Why?

Because the radio was broadcasting news about the subprime mortgage crisis...

Soon, the Hang Seng Index will plummet by 66%. This city, which loves playing with numbers, will be invaded by a new round of financial storm, sweeping away the dignity, reason, and property of countless people...

In other words.

She killed 12 people to get a price reduction for this floor.

But next, property prices across Hong Kong will fall.

So how many lives will be taken away?

I still remember that the last words left by the stock god in the legendary drama "Big Times" were:

Leave early, just four words.

I understand the truth.

But how can human nature and desires ever stop?

Or.

How can we ordinary people be qualified to leave?

so.

Watching "Victoria One" again today, we will find that the most terrifying part of the film may not be the murder scene.

But this world

Like a model toy, it is decorated with a fairytale appearance. You will be attracted if you look at it from a distance, but you will be sucked blood if you look at it closely. You can never see through it...

A world made up of a makeshift team.

In such a world, we can only be like ants, willingly submerged in the towering modern buildings.

To survive.

Try hard to carry away the little bit of sweetness left after the king has eaten his fill.

The pictures in this article are from the Internet