(DVD Synopsis): Tyler never has trouble finding tenants for his cozy little 3-unit apartment building… he just has trouble keeping them alive to pay rent! You see, Tyler’s building is haunted by a pair of 5,000-year-old demons with an insatiable appetite for flesh. And no matter how nicely Tyler asks, he cannot keep them from devouring the tenants. The demons never listen to Tyler, and why should they? After all, they have an all-you-can-eat human buffet and Tyler as their pet monkey.But things could change when Tyler takes a liking to the newest tenant, a desperate young woman running from demons of her own.
I was introduced to the film “The Landlord” by Dr. Goreman’s Nightmare Emporium. They mentioned that they were going to review it and displayed the DVD. The DVD art immediately grabbed my attention. It reminded me of several horror books that I read growing up, so I thought that I would give this film a view and review it for SFS, so here goes.
The films storyline isn’t the
strongest of storylines. It isn’t something so fresh that you will see it as ‘groundbreaking,’ but I really thought it was entertaining enough to keep my interest. When a films storyline becomes too unbearable for me I sometimes hit the ‘fast-forward’ key, of course I always go back and recap what I skipped. Well, I am proud to say that I didn’t feel the need to do this once while watching this film.Keep in mind that this IS a ‘horror-comedy’ so the demons in this film aren’t all hell-bent on scaring the viewer. The all-powerful demon “Lamashtu” resembles a Dog-faced girl from a sideshow - Adding another humorous element to the film. Rabisu, Lamashtu’s sidekick patsy, makes the perfect friend companion, if you ignore the fact that he eats human flesh. He is always there to talk to Tyler, and is the most caring demon I have ever seen in a film, lol. I got the feeling that he became quite tired of his demonic-existence. He even orders a food dehydrator, with Tylers stolen credit-card, from a QVC-Type channel to turn human flesh into juicy, delicious jerky, lol.
The film’s characters are all in their own element, in fact they could pass for guests on a Jerry Springer show. You have Tyler, an alcoholic with a demon-infested apartment building. Amy, Tyler’s sister, a dirty cop with a knack for adultery and using demons to kill drug-dealers and steal their drugs for her to sell. Detective Lopez, a Tom Atkins-type-of-cop, convinced Tyler is guilty of murder and dedicates his time to bust Tyler. Donna, a young woman looking for a divorce and an abortion, only to get caught-up in Tyler’s demon problems. Definitely the most diverse group of characters I’ve seen in a while.The actors in the film are stated as being “Some Of Chicago’s Top Stage Actors.” When I read this, red flags went up. Being a former stage actor myself, I am aware of the type of acting often used for stage. Sometimes actors do not adapt it well enough to be ‘believable’ on screen. Stage acting is often ‘overdone’ and if you do that on camera, it just doesn’t look believable. But I was pleasantly surprised by the way these actors performed onscreen . They all did a very good job. Their acting wasn’t ‘academy award winning,’ but it was certainly a hell-of-a-lot-better than some of the acting I have seen in many other low budget films, so they get major kudos from me on that.
In Conclusion, for a film with
a twenty-thousand-dollar budget, The Landlord was actually quite impressive. Having seen so many low-budget films, my expectations were not on the 20 million dollar level. Having those realistic expectations really allowed me to enjoy the film more. The filmmakers did an exceptional job with what they had, and I truly feel this film could become an inspiration to many aspiring ‘low-budget’ filmmakers.If you detest Low budget films, if watch them and judge them with a ‘Huge Hollywood Budget State-of-mind” then you may not enjoy this film. But if you are a fan of low-budget films, you may want to give this film a viewing. It’s a fun film, with loads of humor. I didn’t think it was gold, but it wasn’t a lemon either.
I want to thank Massive Ego Productions for sending me this screener to review. You can visit the official site for “The Landlord” at www.thelandlordmovie.com. The DVD is also available on Netflix.
RATING: 3 Out Of 5 stars!