Tyler (Derek Dziak) has a problem renting out the apartment in his house because two man-eating demons, green-skinned Rabisu and his master the dog-faced Lamashtu, live in his house and they not only eat all the tenants they do it too quickly for Tyler to collect any rent from them. Two police detectives Lopez and Rosen are also on his case over the large number of his tenants who have gone missing. He complains about this to his sister Amy (Michelle Courvais) who owns the building and pays Tyler to take care of it for her. Amy is a cop who has done a deal with some local ghouls to take care of any criminal scum for her and bring her their money and drugs. She is also having an affair with her partner Warren. Amy just hands Tyler more money leaving him to take of his problems A young woman called Donna (Erin Myers) comes to town desperate for place to stay She wants two things, a divorce and an abortion. After trying to check in to a hotel she finds out about the apartment that's available. She goes to see the apartment and liking the apartment and the price she moves in right away, not noticing Lamashtu sniffing at her hungrily. Tyler likes Donna and really doesn't want her to be eaten by the demons so tries to find a way to stop the demons. Meanwhile Amy is having problem of her own with the ghouls becoming angry and rebellious after she kills one of them when brings her a bag money and drugs covered in gore in public in front of café full of people This film has a tiny budget which means they don't have any real actors in the cast. Donna, Tyler and Amy are okay but the rest of the are pretty bad and the demons are very hammy. The story is fairly interesting and the script has a few funny lines but the lines get very poor delivery so a lot fall flat. It just about works but to get through the film you'd have to be tolerant of the bad acting. The huge teeth the ghouls have to wear would put a lot of pressure on competent actors so they can be forgiven some the difficulties they have delivering their lines. The computer effects are what you'd expect from film with this low a budget.
11 Reviews
Terrible Script - Horrible Acting - Cheesy Graphics
adnihilo20 July 2010
I depend on IMDb viewer ratings more than any other website to determine if I should get a new movie sent to me from Netflix. Unfortunately, sometimes the 'average' user rating is often times too low, or vastly overrated as in the case of 'The Landlord'. I actually like the comedy horror genre, particularly comedy zombie movies, but this was simply total trash. Terrible script writing, bad acting, no continuity and cheesy graphics. It was so amateurish, it looked like it was some sort high school project for film class. It appears the 52 votes must of been from everyone involved with this trash that was occasionally funny only because it was so bad...
Waste of video
aeon655 February 2011
Again I was mislead by the overly high reviews for a crappy movie. I'm beginning to think I can't trust the IMDb reviews at all. I've seen low ratings for movies I thought were well above average, and all too often, high ratings for garbage, like this one. This happens a lot with low budget independent films, the film makers and their entourage often rate their own junk, to beef up ratings. It's ruining the rating features of this site. I watch a lot of movies, including low budget independent features, but this is just amateurish trash. Bad acting, uninspired writing, poor directing, cheesy effects that look like they were done in the 70's and tacky makeup work. This was not scary or funny. Don't waste your time.
Tritely scripted
Leofwine_draca21 July 2018
Warning: Spoilers
THE LANDLORD is one of those indie comedies that seems to think it's the funniest thing ever, although as it turns out it's absolutely dreadful and completely unfunny. A trite script with endless forced humour tells the story of a crazy landlord and those he menaces, with plenty of naval gazing and unwanted political commentary. Add in a big dose of overacting and you have a very bad viewing experience.
An apartment to die for.
BA_Harrison15 August 2009
Written and directed by Emil Hyde, The Landlord stars Derek Dziak as Tyler, a loser whose job is to find tenants and collect rent at the apartment building owned by his feisty policewoman sister Amy (Michelle Courvais). However, what seems like a rather cushy life for Tyler is actually much more demanding than it at first appears: the building is also home to two flesh-eating demons who feed on his tenants, something that arouses the suspicions of a pair of tough cops.
Meanwhile, Amy is having trouble of her own, juggling an adulterous relationship with her police partner, organising shady deals with a gang of local vampires, and keeping her brother from losing the plot.
Problems finally come to a head after Amy upsets her bloodsucking pals and Tyler attempts to prevent his latest tenant Donna (Erin Myers), an attractive, pregnant runaway wife, from becoming demon fodder.
One of the things I love most about horror is that it has a healthy independent scene made up of enthusiastic film-makers with almost non-existent budgets, but armed with a love of the genre and a strong enough resolve to bring their projects to life. You have to admire their spirit, even if you don't always enjoy the finished films.
Thankfully, the team behind comedy/horror The Landlord not only have the drive and determination, but also seem to have a pretty good grasp on what makes for a fun slice of entertainment: they deliver a well constructed, multi-layered story that effectively blends ghoulishness with laughs, a few reasonable visual effects, and some rather unrealistic but satisfyingly bloody gore.
The film also offers decent performances from its cast of unknowns: Dziak makes a likable protagonist, Courvais gives a particularly spirited and memorable performance, but it is Rom Barkhordar as green demon Rabisu who steals the show, hamming it up to just the right degree as he orders jerky machines and tacky statues from a shopping channel, spoons brains straight from his victim's head, and plays charades to spell out a magic phrase that he is forbidden to say.
Overall, this is a consistently engaging piece of macabre cinema that probably won't blow your socks off, but will still manage to pass the time very nicely, thank you. So if you're not too fussed about the unavoidable inadequacies inherent in today's zero-budget horror (poor sound quality, digital video picture quality etc.), I say give The Landlord a whirl.
Meanwhile, Amy is having trouble of her own, juggling an adulterous relationship with her police partner, organising shady deals with a gang of local vampires, and keeping her brother from losing the plot.
Problems finally come to a head after Amy upsets her bloodsucking pals and Tyler attempts to prevent his latest tenant Donna (Erin Myers), an attractive, pregnant runaway wife, from becoming demon fodder.
One of the things I love most about horror is that it has a healthy independent scene made up of enthusiastic film-makers with almost non-existent budgets, but armed with a love of the genre and a strong enough resolve to bring their projects to life. You have to admire their spirit, even if you don't always enjoy the finished films.
Thankfully, the team behind comedy/horror The Landlord not only have the drive and determination, but also seem to have a pretty good grasp on what makes for a fun slice of entertainment: they deliver a well constructed, multi-layered story that effectively blends ghoulishness with laughs, a few reasonable visual effects, and some rather unrealistic but satisfyingly bloody gore.
The film also offers decent performances from its cast of unknowns: Dziak makes a likable protagonist, Courvais gives a particularly spirited and memorable performance, but it is Rom Barkhordar as green demon Rabisu who steals the show, hamming it up to just the right degree as he orders jerky machines and tacky statues from a shopping channel, spoons brains straight from his victim's head, and plays charades to spell out a magic phrase that he is forbidden to say.
Overall, this is a consistently engaging piece of macabre cinema that probably won't blow your socks off, but will still manage to pass the time very nicely, thank you. So if you're not too fussed about the unavoidable inadequacies inherent in today's zero-budget horror (poor sound quality, digital video picture quality etc.), I say give The Landlord a whirl.
fun and blood combined into one
trashgang17 September 2009
Through some friends on the net, at youtube, the told me that in the states a new independent movie was breaking records. It appeared at festivals and always got a big cheer. Then one of those friends send over to Europe some flyers about the movie, it was called The Landlord. Geeks out there who know me do know that when a independent is coming out I'm always trying to contact the director. So I had already a few DVD's over here signed. Anyway, the contact with Emil Hyde went smoothly so after a few weeks the DVD arrived. What I did knew so far was that it was a kind of comedy/horror. And in fact it is. The editing is really nicely done with some effects that reminded me of the 70's. Remember, Altered States. Although that it is a low budget flick the actors are really believable. Especially the woman who plays the cop, and the (demon)landlord itself. The fun part is that the ghosts/demons appear in bright daylight and that reminded me of Nightbreed. There isn't that much blood in it but when it flows it flows in a perfect gory way. So if you are in for a good entertainment then this one is your pick. Really, I was surprised that it is possible to attract the perfect score too. Did I say that the effects were done in a good way too, the only thing that I hated, but it's normal that they used it, was the CGI when the house explodes. I knew that they haven't got the budget too do it in real, but it''s only a few minutes in the movie, luckily that they didn't used it for the gory effects. Well done.
An enjoyable and inspired indie horror comedy winner
Woodyanders19 November 2009
Warning: Spoilers
Easygoing slacker Tyler (a solid and amiable performance by Derek Dziak) runs an apartment where the tenants check in, but never check out. You see, Tyler is the reluctant slave for two ancient flesh-eating demons with an annoying tendency to devour the tenants prior to them paying their full months' rent. Complications ensue when Tyler becomes smitten with sweet and sassy Southern belle Donna (well played with spunky charm by Erin Myers), the new tenant who just happens to be pregnant. Meanwhile, Tyler's sardonic police officer sister Amy (a marvelously snarky portrayal by Michelle Courvais) has problems of her own concerning a lethal gang of brutish vampires.
Writer/director Emil Hyde displays a pleasingly idiosyncratic sensibility in this decidedly offbeat, inventive, and often amusing low-budget indie horror comedy outing; Hyde puts a fresh and imaginative spin on the age-old subjects of demons and vampires while mining the wacky material for plenty of deliciously oddball black humor and delivering a handy helping of suitably grisly gore. The cast play their colorful characters with great aplomb: Dziak and Courvais make for appealing protagonists, Rom Barkhordar almost steals the whole show with his delightfully robust lip-smacking turn as jolly demon Rabisu, Lori Myers snarls it up nicely as ruthless and short-tempered cat-faced distaff demon Lamashtu, plus there are sound contributions by Rob McLean as Amy's corrupt cop partner Warren, Amanda Cohen as helpful gypsy woman Baba, Kurt Ehrman as gruff, hard-nosed homicide Detective Lopez, and Brian Amidei as Amy's lunkhead husband Gary. The scenes with Tyler and Rabisu bickering with each other are positively sidesplitting. A silly infomercial for this ridiculous contraption called the Jerky Juicer and a gloriously appalling anti-abortion video are both likewise quite funny. The CGI effects are surprisingly pretty polished and impressive considering the modest budget. Phil O'Neil's crisp cinematography makes snazzy use of fades, wipes, and dissolves. Karen Sandvoss' quirky syncopated score also hits the bull's eye. The unpredictable story keeps the viewer guessing throughout. Best of all, the filmmakers show a genuine passion and enthusiasm for the horror genre that's impossible to either dislike or resist. A real hoot.
Writer/director Emil Hyde displays a pleasingly idiosyncratic sensibility in this decidedly offbeat, inventive, and often amusing low-budget indie horror comedy outing; Hyde puts a fresh and imaginative spin on the age-old subjects of demons and vampires while mining the wacky material for plenty of deliciously oddball black humor and delivering a handy helping of suitably grisly gore. The cast play their colorful characters with great aplomb: Dziak and Courvais make for appealing protagonists, Rom Barkhordar almost steals the whole show with his delightfully robust lip-smacking turn as jolly demon Rabisu, Lori Myers snarls it up nicely as ruthless and short-tempered cat-faced distaff demon Lamashtu, plus there are sound contributions by Rob McLean as Amy's corrupt cop partner Warren, Amanda Cohen as helpful gypsy woman Baba, Kurt Ehrman as gruff, hard-nosed homicide Detective Lopez, and Brian Amidei as Amy's lunkhead husband Gary. The scenes with Tyler and Rabisu bickering with each other are positively sidesplitting. A silly infomercial for this ridiculous contraption called the Jerky Juicer and a gloriously appalling anti-abortion video are both likewise quite funny. The CGI effects are surprisingly pretty polished and impressive considering the modest budget. Phil O'Neil's crisp cinematography makes snazzy use of fades, wipes, and dissolves. Karen Sandvoss' quirky syncopated score also hits the bull's eye. The unpredictable story keeps the viewer guessing throughout. Best of all, the filmmakers show a genuine passion and enthusiasm for the horror genre that's impossible to either dislike or resist. A real hoot.
The Landlord
Scarecrow-889 July 2010
Warning: Spoilers
"It's a portal to hell, not a garbage shoot."
Bizarre "demon comedy" regarding a landlord who must endure two very insatiably hungry demons demanding human tenants to feast on! Landlord Tyler(Derek Dziak) has grown tired of feeding innocents to demons, Rabisu(Rom Barkhordar) & Lamashtu(Lori Myers) and cleaning up their grisly mess afterward. Tyler's patience is certainly tested when a new tenant from the country, Donna(Erin Myers), arrives to rent a flat for two months..Tyler likes this one and isn't too keen on surrendering her to the demons desiring sustenance. Tyler's sister, Amy(Michelle Courvais, who reminds me of Ally Sheedy), a cop, has an association with the demons, and they must agree to her wishes or their prosperous relationship will come to an end. Demons, with foul, sharp teeth, are allowed to eat from the flesh of junkies, bringing Amy their dope and stocked cash. Gil and Mike(Kurt Ehrmann and Ezekiel Brown), two detectives who have been harassing Tyler due to all the missing bodies who were once occupants in his building, make the mistake of attempting to break in while he was away with Donna at a bar on karaoke night. We find out that the portal to hell is in fact located in the basement of Tyler's building! Anyway, we'll just say that Tyler's worries with the detectives will be over. Donna is running from a bad marriage, with a lousy husband she wants a divorce from..as well as wanting to abort her unborn child. Demon Lamashtu, Rabisu's missus(with a dog face!)wishes for Donna to conceive her child for lunch! Donna is trapped by Lamashtu's forcefield in her room and Rabisu does little to help her(he's afraid, to say the least). Meanwhile, Amy and her cop lover Warren(Rob McLean) kill a demon who arrived at a diner with blood dripping from his teeth and drenched on his shirt(delivering money covered in blood as well)..so clumsy, out in the open, infuriates Amy, spurning her wrath. Well a head demon doesn't appreciate the death of one of their kind, and orders Warren to "bring Amy into the fold." So Tyler must somehow rescue Donna while Amy is destined to become a demon.
Despite some budget restraints(some of the special effects are a bit rough around the edges), there's an enthusiasm and energy I found palpable. It's presented in a gleefully macabre fashion, with lots of prosthetic limb jokes(gotta love the jerky juicer and Rabisu's attempts to use it for human meat). I have an affinity for these demon comedies, and felt THE LANDLORD was very much in the vein of such cult favorites as NIGHT OF THE DEMONS & THE HAZING. We see how the demons were conjured and granted access in our world through the Sumerian incantation summoned actually by Tyler and Amy's parents..there's an interesting twist regarding how the parents correlate with Lamashtu and Rabisu as well. I will say that there's a heavy dependence on these wild optical effects using vibrant neon colors when we see magic used by Lamashtu(and this occult shop owner who knows a thing or two about spells and the dark arts). The cast really seem to be having a good time and that, I felt, rubs off on specific viewers who enjoy their comedies a bit on the black side. The co-producer, Dan Kiggins, was a regular on the IMDb horror board so I'm more than proud that he had a chance to live the dream. The demons have the "infect bite" in that when they munch into the necks of human victims, those gnawed on turn into fanged ghouls as well. And, Lamashtu and Rabisu can travel distances by "teleporting" themselves within the building.
Bizarre "demon comedy" regarding a landlord who must endure two very insatiably hungry demons demanding human tenants to feast on! Landlord Tyler(Derek Dziak) has grown tired of feeding innocents to demons, Rabisu(Rom Barkhordar) & Lamashtu(Lori Myers) and cleaning up their grisly mess afterward. Tyler's patience is certainly tested when a new tenant from the country, Donna(Erin Myers), arrives to rent a flat for two months..Tyler likes this one and isn't too keen on surrendering her to the demons desiring sustenance. Tyler's sister, Amy(Michelle Courvais, who reminds me of Ally Sheedy), a cop, has an association with the demons, and they must agree to her wishes or their prosperous relationship will come to an end. Demons, with foul, sharp teeth, are allowed to eat from the flesh of junkies, bringing Amy their dope and stocked cash. Gil and Mike(Kurt Ehrmann and Ezekiel Brown), two detectives who have been harassing Tyler due to all the missing bodies who were once occupants in his building, make the mistake of attempting to break in while he was away with Donna at a bar on karaoke night. We find out that the portal to hell is in fact located in the basement of Tyler's building! Anyway, we'll just say that Tyler's worries with the detectives will be over. Donna is running from a bad marriage, with a lousy husband she wants a divorce from..as well as wanting to abort her unborn child. Demon Lamashtu, Rabisu's missus(with a dog face!)wishes for Donna to conceive her child for lunch! Donna is trapped by Lamashtu's forcefield in her room and Rabisu does little to help her(he's afraid, to say the least). Meanwhile, Amy and her cop lover Warren(Rob McLean) kill a demon who arrived at a diner with blood dripping from his teeth and drenched on his shirt(delivering money covered in blood as well)..so clumsy, out in the open, infuriates Amy, spurning her wrath. Well a head demon doesn't appreciate the death of one of their kind, and orders Warren to "bring Amy into the fold." So Tyler must somehow rescue Donna while Amy is destined to become a demon.
Despite some budget restraints(some of the special effects are a bit rough around the edges), there's an enthusiasm and energy I found palpable. It's presented in a gleefully macabre fashion, with lots of prosthetic limb jokes(gotta love the jerky juicer and Rabisu's attempts to use it for human meat). I have an affinity for these demon comedies, and felt THE LANDLORD was very much in the vein of such cult favorites as NIGHT OF THE DEMONS & THE HAZING. We see how the demons were conjured and granted access in our world through the Sumerian incantation summoned actually by Tyler and Amy's parents..there's an interesting twist regarding how the parents correlate with Lamashtu and Rabisu as well. I will say that there's a heavy dependence on these wild optical effects using vibrant neon colors when we see magic used by Lamashtu(and this occult shop owner who knows a thing or two about spells and the dark arts). The cast really seem to be having a good time and that, I felt, rubs off on specific viewers who enjoy their comedies a bit on the black side. The co-producer, Dan Kiggins, was a regular on the IMDb horror board so I'm more than proud that he had a chance to live the dream. The demons have the "infect bite" in that when they munch into the necks of human victims, those gnawed on turn into fanged ghouls as well. And, Lamashtu and Rabisu can travel distances by "teleporting" themselves within the building.
Pleased to see this film score as high as it has....
innocuous27 September 2010
"The Landlord" has caught a lot of grief on some other sites (including NF) and so I was gratified to see that it has managed to rack up six stars here (so far). I enjoy independent movies that don't take themselves too seriously and TL certainly falls into this category. The acting is wildly variable, both from character to character and from scene to scene, and the FX (both practical and CGI) are pretty atrocious, but Hyde has his heart in the right place and he manages to eventually carry it off. The screenplay is pretty good and there are some real zingers here and there. You can tell in the first ten minutes that the writer(s) did not set out to write a script just for the money...everyone involved in the movie obviously just likes horror movies (especially "The Evil Dead" trilogy and "Beetlejuice"). This is definitely worth a watch if you have so me patience and can overlook the cheap latex face appliances.
A Cheezy bag of indy fun!
theboss-544-16949922 May 2019
I got a copy of this film from either the director or someone in the crew. 10$ for a factory DVD or if I paid 20$ I also got a homebrew Blu-Ray with it. Frankly so many people want to make a movie, but many die of "Natural Causes".
The best sales pitch I heard was from the seller who said to me "I Made this with 50 of my closest friends". It was enough for me to support the craft and schell out 20 bucks. I gave the DVD to a pal and opted to watch the burned Blu-Ray.
So what did I think? It was cheezy as I expected, with a flair of "I just spent 3 years in film school and need to make sure every scene follows the "WALLDO" method, the makeup is awful and some of the acting is downright amateurish.
But who cares? If 50 friends got together to help someone make a monster movie, that's 50 people who all got to sit down at a premiere in a hall or home and had a good time. If I can be a part of that, cool.
If you want to know what it is about, see it. A few years after it was made, South Park did a shockingly close story which explains that Kenny keeps coming back to life because his parents attended a cult meeting for free beer. That is kind of the background story of this movie, however the consequences of the satanic ritual result in an apartment being cursed with a goofy demon. Despite the cheezy makeup, I love the demon. I have not rewatched the movie in several years, but I still think fondly of that stupid demon!
If you can find it, check it out, but remember . . . It is a project of fun and fellowship, not necessarily art.
The best sales pitch I heard was from the seller who said to me "I Made this with 50 of my closest friends". It was enough for me to support the craft and schell out 20 bucks. I gave the DVD to a pal and opted to watch the burned Blu-Ray.
So what did I think? It was cheezy as I expected, with a flair of "I just spent 3 years in film school and need to make sure every scene follows the "WALLDO" method, the makeup is awful and some of the acting is downright amateurish.
But who cares? If 50 friends got together to help someone make a monster movie, that's 50 people who all got to sit down at a premiere in a hall or home and had a good time. If I can be a part of that, cool.
If you want to know what it is about, see it. A few years after it was made, South Park did a shockingly close story which explains that Kenny keeps coming back to life because his parents attended a cult meeting for free beer. That is kind of the background story of this movie, however the consequences of the satanic ritual result in an apartment being cursed with a goofy demon. Despite the cheezy makeup, I love the demon. I have not rewatched the movie in several years, but I still think fondly of that stupid demon!
If you can find it, check it out, but remember . . . It is a project of fun and fellowship, not necessarily art.
One really big question!?!?!?!
travelinphan1118 November 2011
Who was the DJ and why did he not have a speaking role? This kid needs more work, he clearly has talent that is being overlooked! He is a real professional and extremely talented!! Rumor has it that he is currently making a movie with Jason Statham.
I would love to see him in more movies!!! Aside from that, the movie was entertaining and fun to watch! I am being serious though the DJ needs to get in more movies or even commercials. He is a very versatile and well rounded actor! He can play anything from drama to comedy to suspense! Someone gives this kid a job...he can play old and young which is the real hidden talent about him.
I would love to see him in more movies!!! Aside from that, the movie was entertaining and fun to watch! I am being serious though the DJ needs to get in more movies or even commercials. He is a very versatile and well rounded actor! He can play anything from drama to comedy to suspense! Someone gives this kid a job...he can play old and young which is the real hidden talent about him.
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