Intensity: 🩸🩸1/2 out of 🩸🩸🩸🩸🩸
Written and Directed by Remington Smith
Landlord poses the question “If vampires can’t come into your home without an invitation, what happens if they own your housing?” A bounty hunter checks her conscience in order to save an orphaned boy from the predations of a vampire landlord consuming the tenants of a Lousiville housing complex. This gritty and moody debut from writer director Remington Smith was featured at the Portland Horror Film Festival.
There is a proud tradition of horror movies couching sociological criticism in terms of monsters and villains preying upon the vulnerable. Race relations. Class struggle. Gender typing. Horror movies can place a mirror in front of us and force us to see some uncomfortable truths. George Romero made a living doing this, by way of zombies. David Cronenberg uses disease and body horror themes to shock and criticize. Remington Smith has picked up the baton and has delivered a gritty southern Gothic vampire tale, soaked in sweat and surrounded by chirping cicadas.
Smith, who grew up in poverty, reflects on the plight of the rent-by-the-week class of citizens who eke out their existences in semi-shanties. These souls survive at the discretion of a blood sucking landlord who controls their lives. He can come and go as he wants, because he owns the buildings they reside in. Their lives are his to control. Still, some of the oppressed are willing to fight back, even the youngest among them. Hope lives, even in the projects.
Adama Abramson plays an unnamed bounty hunter, who much like Clint Eastwood’s man with no name, provides a steely anti-hero who works in the moral gray areas and has to commit to doing the right thing to save a community.
The Cast of Landlord
- Adama Abramson plays The Bounty Hunter, assigned to repossess a briefcase with unknown contents. She wanders into a lower-income Louisville residential complex where she has tracked the package.
- Cohen Cooper plays Alex, a boy living in the housing development. He’s clever, and a survivor, and he has been taking notes about how to beat a vampire.
- William McKinney plays John William Lawrence, the vampiric landlord who owns much of the neighborhood, and travels amongst his properties, consuming blood from his unfortunate helpless residents at night.
- Lance Gerard plays Chritopher, Lawrence’s manager of the complex, and his minion servant. Christopher desperately wants to be turned into a vampire.
- J Barrett Cooper plays Sherrif Conner, a crooked cop who provides legal protection for Lawrence, and knows what the vampire has been doing in town.
- Patrick Mitchell plays Reverend Micheaux, who offers sanctuary as best he can to those who need it.
- Meredith Frankie Crutcher plays Rachael, Alex’s mom who is a regular victim of Lawrence.
A Summary of Landlord:
Following clues about her assigned target, The Bounty Hunter arrives by foot at the Lawrence Apartments, a rundown slum, where she has located the man toting the package she has been hired to recover. While staking out the situation, and waiting for her opportunity, she observes a number of violent domestic outbursts in the complex. Christopher, the manager tells her not to worry about it, and she concedes. This is not her fight… but still, she observes and she calls the cops. These weren’t ordinary domestic disturbances, however. These folks were being attacked by their Landlord, and the cops are being paid off to ignore it.
Alex observes the strange new resident, and she in turn questions him about the goings on in the complex. He’s friendless, and not good at defending himself. Even some of the girls in the apartment project pick on him. The Bounty Hunter spots Christopher leaving the premesis. She hires a cab to tail him and discovers that he is delivering body parts to a pig farm to get rid of the evidence. When she returns to the apartments, she hears a commotion from Alex’s apartment. She breaks in to assist, and finds his mother dying on the floor, and Lawrence pinning Alex to his bed. Three bullets into the assailant, and he’s down… or at least for a moment. Lawrence gets back up, and bites The Bounty Hunter, but she manages to stab him with a pencil into the neck, and gets free.
She and Alex abandon Rachel, and find a vacant apartment to hide in. But the vampire tropes start to kick in. The Bounty Hunter patches her neck wound, and splints Alex’s arm, and they bolt before the cops come. Now on the run from the cops, and a vampire, in a town he controls the newly bonded pair are on the run. But, she still has a job to complete, so she’s going to have to go back and risk everything. And now, the powers that be are on the lookout for this mysterious woman and her orphaned charge.
Evaluation of Landlord:
This is a confident movie, with confident characters. It plays out like a detective story, and for me this is a mash-up of Fright Night (a strong reference from Remington Smith) and the Wire. This is a slice of life look at the underbelly of a troubled neighborhood. It also reminds me of a little independent movie, The Transfiguration. Not so much in the story, but in the feels. Both films have a bit of a languid pace, but they never bore. There is an undercurrent of dread through both films, and they both deal with the plight of underprivileged African American communities, and how the residents try and cope with their situations. Another good comp for this film would be The Angry Black Girl and Her Monster, for how it handles horror within an African American low-income community.
Adama Abramson is a revelation. She is steely confidence personified. Her character reminds me very much of Michonne (Danai Gurira) from The Walking Dead. Also, there are strong Linda Hamilton Terminator 2 Sarah Connor vibes coming from her. Strong, lean, broad shouldered, and watchful. Not only does this character exude confidence, but compitence as well. You firmly believe that she is a bounty hunter. She doesn’t trust anyone, and she’s hyper aware of her surroundings. It is character derived largely from body language and action, and less so with dialogue. As noted before, she doesn’t have a name, just like the Clint Eastwood characters from the old Sergio Leone films.
Cohen Cooper too delivers just the right notes. He’s a very young actor, but he delivers just the right amount of pathos, without becoming too cute for the role. Alex is trying to find his courage, and wants to be helpful, but he’s clearly not ready for that role. Cooper walks that line deftly, and it makes for a good road-trip buddy pairing. Smith noted in the Q&A session that he was looking to have a big sister/little brother our Auntie/nephew relationship rather than a parent/child combination. It allowed for more sass, but kept the necessary bonds to be effective.
The Production
For a small budget indie horror film, this movie delivers on the looks and sounds that allow this movie to punch above its weight class. A minor criticism could be made against this movie stretches on a bit. This isn’t a constant action piece. It soaks you in the atmosphere. It resembles the True Detective series in that way. Smith as a shot-maker has gotten on to the Liminal horror train. The easy pace of Louisville comes through with close ups of insects, flowers, trees, and curiously… shoes. You can listen in to Smith describe his affection for shoe shots in my interview with him. This attention to detail extends the lenght of the movie a bit, but this makes the film immersive, and doesn’t kill the pacing.
Full credit to the sound design of this picture. The chirping of crickets and cicadas are expertly deployed, and places you in the mid-South. It has the feel of summertime. The soundtrack has a pulsing charge to it, and pushes and pulls at the right moments. There are nice Gothic nods, with a pipe organ in the score, but it doesn’t feel dated. Smith had a master film armorer on his film, and it really pays off. The gunplay in this movie is punchy and jolting. This is a horror movie that intersects with an underworld action showdown, and the authenticity of the action bolsters the confident feel of the shoot.
Final Thoughts
For a first time feature, Remington Smith created an engrossing movie that succeeds in so many ways. The social commentary works. The character development is on point. It looks and sounds great. It borrows just enough of the vampire tropes for it to be recognizable to fans of the genre. What makes it all the more impressive is that it utilizes cast and crew local to Lousiville, showcasing the best of what this film community can offer. The full ensemble cast felt like seasoned professionals, despite the fairly lean IMdB resumes on the ledger. I would have liked a little more of the vampire landlord in action, but overall, I had a great time with this film. I
Landlord is currently in the middle of its film festival Run. If you see it showing up at a festival near you, put it at the top of your watch list. The movie is not rated, but it certainly would qualify for an R rating, due to violence, some gore, and language. This is a serious film, and it takes familiar tropes and places them in a different context.
Review by Eric Li
The Scariest Things Interview with Remington Smith
This is my interview at the Portland Horror Film Festival with Remington Smith in the green room of the Hollywood Theater. Following the interview is a recording of the Question and Answer session at the festival with the audience screening the film.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed
