Horror movie Home Sweet Home, starring Karena Lam and Hsu Chi, hit the Shenzhen screen last Thursday, just in time for Halloween.

A terrifying tear-jerker, Home Sweet Home has an unusual plot for a horror movie. Mom May (Hsu) moves into a luxurious new house with her son, Zilu, but before long a monster (Lam) takes Zilu away, believing him to be her long-lost child. The battle between the two mothers combines terror and grief.

It is Hsu's first role as a mother and unusual for widely acclaimed beauty Lam to be cast as a monster. Both their performances are helping make the unlikely plot a popular success.

Directed by Soi Cheng, the movie features many scenes shot in Shenzhen with local residents as extras.

Lam and Hsu reportedly had a tough time in some of the horror scene settings of water pipes and sewage channels.

Local response has been mostly positive. A moviegoer surnamed Shen found the movie "really touching" movie, and another surnamed Fang said, "This is an excellent movie, from plot to performance, from photographer to sound effects."

Although the movie talks about a mother's love for her son, it is mainly a Halloween horror screening. "I couldn't watch the entire production. Almost half the time, I just closed my eyes," said one female moviegoer.

(Shenzhen Daily October 31, 2005)