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Stars: Adama Abramson, Cohen Cooper, William McKinney
Director: Remington Smith
Producer: Filmsmith Productions

“I want to kill him.”

Day two of Grimmfest continued with an excellent vampire flick that shares territories with that of blaxploitation and the western. From writer-director Remington Smith, Landlord is a genre film that plays straight, essentially. Given how unrealistic vampires are, this depiction is quite realistic in fact, unlike anything ever seen.

Adama Abramson arrives in town as The Bounty Hunter. Tasked with locating a certain briefcase, loaded with wads of cash, her mission finds herself based within a slightly worn down, slightly suspicious, and slightly poverty apartment block. In the way of the mission: the caretaker and the landlord. In this instance, the landlord is a vampire. When a tenant’s time is up, they are thoroughly evicted.

Initially, Landlord establishes its existence as an exciting suburban western, of sorts. That is the established baseline of the film. In the Bounty Hunter’s pursuit of her target, and his briefcase, so much intrigue is established for the viewing in the desire to know the background of the target. Further excitement is established in the environment in which this is all set. We know that something isn’t quite right – whether it’s the bounty or where the bounty is staying. Something is amiss.

With a shocking and gory transcendence into the vampire movie, Landlord doesn’t quite diminish its western roots. Instead, some elements and tropes are enhanced. The relationship with fellow neighbour and orphan, Alex (Cohen Cooper), evolves into the core of Landlord – their mismatched, almost maternal, dynamic works so well. As the story develops, he is more than a sidekick, and she is more than a guardian. They become a makeshift family, joined together by gross circumstance. In opposition, William McKinney bloody thrives as the landlord vampire – what a commentary: private landlords are vampires. His presence and maneuverability maintain both an aura and mystique over his character.

Overall, Landlord is not only an exciting product of genre cinema, but it is a smart one too. The world building as the film develops is fantastic, though shadows still remain over select details. The fruition of character developments and outcomes almost encourage Landlord to kickstart a franchise of its own; the origin tools are there. Given the story presented with vampiric landlordism, so much intrigue is established into the genesis of…how a vampire became a landlord.