Most Helpful Customer Reviews
|
|
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The GREATEST modern camp classic. She kills everyone!, May 27, 2001
This is an absolute, immediate classic in camp films. The movie opens with poor Melanie finding her husband having an affair with a bank clerk. She peeks through a window and sees him as he spouts off the most ridiculous sex dialogue, which sounds as if it were straight out of any porn flick. Melanie has a religious edge, and is very proper. Being such, she poisons her cheating husband and takes the apartment building he inherits from his dead aunt. She begins to change things immediately upon arrival, murdering the current leech of a landlord with a freezer door (a classic scene for sure.) She has a very strong desire for the perfect family, and develops a fixation for Patrick, a tenant that works with children in Social services. First she has to get rid of his drug addict girlfriend (in yet another classic scene). She places a smoke detector/camera in his apartment to monitor him, and even places a huge two way mirror in her bedroom (which connects to his), where she sits in bed and watches him while munching on a huge bowl of popcorn. No kidding! She carries Ralston, her cremated husband, around in his urn, chatting with him about how he could never be as perfect as Patrick. Totally demented. This movie also has a very brief appearance by Courtney Gaines, who is best known for playing the over-the-top Malaki in the 1984 camp/horror film "Children of the corn". His hysterical performance in that film deserves to be rehashed at some point and this film could have been it, but we only see him briefly starring as a pimp, shortly before the Landlady offs him. Plainly put, she kills just about every character introduced in the film. It's hysterical. The Landlady gets to where she has Patrick tied up in bed after he rejects her proposal of being the perfect family. Will Melanie convince Patrick to be her husband and father to her children? Will Patrick break free and run away? Will "He who walks behind the rows" resurrect Malaki and have him take Melanie to Hell with him? Buy this fantastic movie and find out. I am desperately waiting for a wonderful sequel.
|
|
|
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Collecting the rent - the hard way!, June 23, 2000
Talia Shire gives her greatest non-Godfather/Rocky performanceas a sexless landlady who wants to get laid so bad that she ends upkilling her tenants. You don't want her knocking on your door looking for the back rent - cause the penalty is a killer. When she resorts to a bondage relationship with her most prized boarder, you have feel for this poor woman. All she has is real estate and a longing in her heart. Rememember to buy this film by the fourth day of the month. The editing job by Julian Semilian is Oscar quality. Why do these films get overlooked by the Academy?
|
|
|
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Only Enjoyable for Talia Shire fans, but for the rest..., October 10, 2006
The reason I bought this film, is because I like Talia Shire. The only reason to buy this film is because of Shire, cause if you don't like Shire then I wouldn't recommend you buying this film.
The Landlady follows the frustrated Melanie, a woman who's husband cheats on her, a situation that lets something snip in her mind. She becomes obsessed with having the perfect family and husband. After she kills her husband, she moves into an appartmentbuilding which she inherrited. There she meets Patrick who becomes her new object of desire to start a new family with. And she lets nobody, and I mean absolutely nobody come in her way...
In technical aspects, the Landlady is ok, not fantastic, but ok. It has good camera movements (some could have been way better to make it more tense) and the lighting is well done which gives some scenes a nice horror feel. The music also is nice in some scenes.
Now the acting could have been way better, not counting Talia Shire. Shire is the one who keeps the film away from the pit of the terribly bad films. But although she acts good, in some scenes you really feel that she doesn't give her 100% which is a pitty: she could have done way better than this. But one thing she does perfectly: even though she is the bad one in the film and kills a lot of people, she actually makes you feel for the pshyco landlady. That is what makes her performance ok.
Now the rest of the cast acts so emotionalless that you absolutely don't care that they are getting killed. The only one I did care for was a character played by Dee Freeman, she does an ok actingjob also. But as for the rest: they don't feel like people but just minor props that have to be taken care of. You will find yourself looking at the screen saying: "Oh, there goes another one."
Conclusion: The murders look more funny than they look scary or emotional.
Also the tempo of the film is sometimes awfully slow. It takes a long time from one murder to another which will dissapoint slasher and horror fans.
So when you sit down and watch the Landlady, watch it with your sense of humor switched on, then it will be more watchable then when you watch it counting on a scary horrorfilm.
So if you are a Talia Shire fan, I would recommend you this film cause it is fun to see Shire do something totally different than playing a lovely sweet innocent woman. If you are not a Shire fan, then this film will look like just another low budget, wanna-be horror film to you.
|
|
|
Most Recent Customer Reviews
|
DVD ~ Alexandra Paul; Shannon Lawson; Gary Hudson
DVD ~ Tracy Nelson
DVD ~ Barbara Niven
DVD ~ Mickey Rourke
DVD ~ Lisa Zane; Michael Fairman; William R. Moses
