Customer Reviews

The Landlady

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

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.

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?

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.

Finally an intelligent, well made adult (for grown ups, not soft porn) thriller. No juvenile excess, just excellent acting and writing. Talia Shire is one resourceful little woman. The Marines may be looking for a few good men but I'd go anywhere with a squad of Talias for backup. Jump back!

a good movie with a great storyline. it is a must see film full of drama and suspense. what a good buy.

This film had a lot of potential,
and because of that, I was very
disappointed by it.

The cinematography and music
are excellent.
The acting is not and the plot
does not develop well.

If the psychological breakdown of Melanie
were developed even a little bit
and the subsequent murders were presented
in a manner that gave them gravitas,
it would have made quite a difference.

As it is, the film opens with Melanie
finding her husband in a sexual relationship
with a neighbor, and, as a result, he dies
from the crabs, that is, the crab meat
that his long suffering wife served him
for dinner.

It seems that Melanie and her husband
were incompatible.
He did not believe in the Sixth Commandment
and she did not believe in the Fifth.

Melanie moves to an apartment building
and starts her new career as a landlady
and mass murderer, obsessively pursuing
the object of her desire, a tenant whom
she thinks is the perfect husband she
has been searching for.

The film is a blend of horror, humor
and social satire, much like "The Dentist"
that was produced by the same folks and
is far superior.
Perhaps they should have employed the dream
team of Yuzna and Gordon for this one as well.

This is still a pretty good film,
but with a little bit more attention
to the details of good story-telling,
it could have been great.

note bene: Explicit sexual content:
Melanie sees her husband having a
sexual affair and so does the viewer;
it is a gratuitous soft-core porno
moment.
I think those 10 seconds ought to place
the film in the X-rated category.
I know that the envelope on that sort
of thing is in flux toward the more
liberal, but it is best to be forewarned.

Awkward, amateur and pedestrian. A shame, since it seems Talia Shire could have done better given more intelligent dialogue and some actual depth to her character. I found myself wishing more screen time had been devoted her character's failed marriage, to set-up her "snapping". Then, perhaps, the convenient appearance of THREE CANS of crab meat in the cupboard might have seemed like more than a convenient plot device. To add insult to injury, there are some cringe-inducingly incongruous one-liner comments delivered before characters are murdered. However, there are also a few well-pitched scenes, especially between the landlady and the hapless girlfriend, and the handyman's little dig about "the Lord's name in vain". And the actress playing character of the mom trying to regain custody of her son brings some much-needed believability to the performances. Otherwise, a colossal waste of time.

Poor Melanie Dade (Talia Shire) catches her scummy husband, Ralston in bed w/ another woman. Not to worry! Mel fixes hubby a final feast of deadly delights for dinner! Then, she's off to take her rightful place as landlady of the apartment building she's inherited. Things go just swimmingly until the old apartment manager gets a little too nosey, and it's death-by-heavy-kitchen-appliance time! Melanie soon falls in love w/ Peter, the hunkster tenant down the hall. Oh no, he's got a girlfriend! No problem, just a quick visit from Melanie sets her straight! Yepper, ol' Mel is on the move, knocking off anyone who crosses her path. THE LANDLADY is fun, Fun, FUN in the same vein as classics like THE DENTIST and / or DEVIL IN THE FLESH, etc. Buy immediately...

Talia Shire(who you might rember from the Rocky Rocky movies)stars as Melanie Leroy, a woman who losses her control of reality when she discovers her husband is having a n affair. For revenge Melanie posioned him. Soon After she inherited an apartment house from her Aunt. As The new Landlady Melanie get to know&hate her new tentants. But when Melanie Leroy wants you to leave her buliding she does not ask nicely,she kills you. Melanie falls for one of her renters and wants to marry him, but he knows nothing about this untill he is tied up to a bed and forced into a relationship with the crazy landlady.I liked this movie becaust Talia Shire is way over the top And the body count is high in this movie. I would recommend this movie to fans of the horror gene because its fun to watch& the death scenes are very hurmors. This movie is above avrage for a direct-to-video movie and a 100 times better than I expected it to be. So go head give this movie a shot.

There are times in this average thriller that I really felt sorry for Talia Shire's Melanie Dade. While we do not really know why or when she became psychotic, she is so desperately in need of a man and family that her plight can't help but be sympathized with. Granted, the seven people she bumps off is not the way to get a man, but she certainly does try. Shire is very good in the role, even though we all know where it will end up for her. Jack Coleman as the man of her dreams is dashing, sincere, and well cast in the otherwise thankless role. Bruce Weitz seems held back in his role as Pepper, the maintenance manager, and Melissa Behr as Liz doesn't have much to do and when her death scene comes up, she doesn't seem all that terrified.
But, suffice to say, Talia dominates the movie, and although it lacks originality, it is a compelling look at loneliness.