Over My Dead Body Cinema Review

4 star hilarious and very dark homeowner comedy.

Over My Dead Body is a 2023 Hong Kong comedy film, written by Kong Ho-Yan (The Midnight After) and directed by Ho Cheuk-Tin (The Sparring Partner).

It is presented here in Cantonese with English and Chinese subtitles and is showing now in cinemas across the UK.

“This apartment! If we call the cops, it will become a murder home. Hey! No pictures!”

Ming is a young man struggling to make ends meet. He is living with his wife Yana and their daughter Yoyo in the very fancy Seaside Heights apartment owned by his mother-in-law. Also living there is Ankle, Yana’s strange brother and Ming and Yana would very much like to move out. They want her to mortgage the apartment for a downpayment but unsurprisingly she is not keen on the idea.

Money is at the forefront of all their minds, so when Ming goes to put the rubbish out and finds a naked dead man leaning on the front door, their first thought is of the effect on the property value. A quick bit of research reveals that there is less of a drop in value if it is just on the same floor, so they decide to relocate the body next door, to the home of Boron and Betty.

This backfires and the rest of the night is spent trying to find a way out of this predicament, to hilarious effect. Brilliant.

“Why didn’t you die farther away? Such a party pooper.”

Over My Dead Body is a hilarious film, with a fantastic script and some beautifully hammed up acting which is as the same time very believable. There is lots of slapstick, as well as a few surprisingly tender moments too.

It’s a great look at the potential lengths people are prepared to go to in order to protect their assets, as well as an excuse for people to get dressed up in loads of fancy gear.

With a very shocking twist and a genius ending to the film, this one is absolutely well worth a trip to the cinema.

“This dead body is lying at your doorstep. It belongs to you.”