The Landlord (2009, Review)

Published on April 25, 2010 by Steven Tee · No Comments

Director: Emil Hyde

Cast: Derek Dziak, Rom Barkhordar, Michelle Courvais, Erin Myers, Rob McLean, Lori Myers

Massive Ego Productions / Not Rated / NTSC Region 1/ 1.77:1 Widescreen / Stereo 2.0 / Color / 95 Minutes / PURCHASE

Extras: Behind the Scenes Featurette, Cast/Director Commentary / Built-in Drinking Game

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I’m almost absolutely sure that every single one of you Cinesploitation.com readers have been in this similar situation when hearing news about upcoming and promising horror films; you come across a small tidbit of news about a certain film and this news gives you such a thrill in your pants that you can’t pee straight for months on end until this film hits theaters or DVD shelves. But something happens and an unforeseen even has delayed or canceled production resulting in a spur growth of massive blue balls. A couple of years back, Worst Case Scenario, a Nazi-zombie film, had phenomenal teaser trailers that had no doubt of contending to be a classic. However, funds ceased for that production and the film was as dead as the undead German invaders. This was how I felt about director Emil Hyde’s The Landlord as I heard news after news about it and waited and waited until a calm, dead quiet flow of nothing was ever heard again about the film. Then BAM!, the DVD is out before I could even blink after reading the press release. The Landlord lives up to it’s positive hype as Emil Hyde shows us having deals with evil will always lead us down that road to hell – and I don’t mean that place with fire, brimstone and that bastard red guy with horns and goatee.

Landlord Tyler has always been a pleasant individual. He has a large, well kept apartment for super cheap and is willing to help out any potential tenant that needs reliable service and a budget value roof over their heads. The only thing about Tyler is, well, he unwillingly feeds his newly found tenants to a pair of ancient demons. With the help of his older sister, Tyler becomes a slave of his apartment complex and a waiter to two hungry demons. When Tyler falls for his newest tenant, he must find a way to vanquish their appetites before his tenant becomes invited to dinner as the main course.

The Landlord houses a mixed bag of well timed and placed humor with a couple of severed arms and legs thrown in. Hyde has created a unique blend of horror comedy on a confined budget that could not hinder these ruthless, yet satirical, demons from playing out on the whims of their human slaves. Usually with low budget horror films, an abundance of dull and tedious moments reek havoc on your mind and resulting in nap time or constant pausing of the film itself; with The Landlord, the pause button was never used, my brain was still happily in tact and the futon had molded to my ass from sitting in the same spot for 95 minutes. Don’t shun away from a fiercely funny dark comedy horror just because it doesn’t have a billion dollar budget and directed by somebody who has more cars on their lot than a dealership.

A real highlight for The Landlord is Rom Barkhordar being cast as “Rabisu”, a servant demon to the all mighty demon bitch Lamashtu. Rabisu marks himself as a liaison between Tyler and Lamashtu and enjoys slaughtering his food alive just to feed his large appetite. Barkhordar brings more to the character than demon with a stomach as big as a an elephant’s. Barkhordar can make you laugh as he is quick to snap back with snippets on Tyler and his back talk to Lamashtu; there is also this nonchalant personal gratitude Barkhordar that makes Rabisu become a favorable character. The makeup for Rabisu is remarkable work – a very believable demon look if their was ever a realistic example.

The Landlord doesn’t just consist of one story as it delivers duel story lines; one more perviant to Tyler and another slight smaller one with his sister and her situation with a completely different race of demons. The contrast may seem confusing at times, but the stories do mesh well with the overall grim message – demons don’t care. Massive Ego Production’s release is quite appealing with the 80′s era like cover art by Scott Jackson of Monsterman Graphics and a built-in drinking game for all you A.A. heads out there. So, what is there left to say? Grab a beer and pop in The Landlord!

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