LandLord, the debut feature from writer, director, producer, and editor Remington Smith, is making its film festival rounds. This film is an intense fantasy-horror film grounded in classic genre thrills with social commentary. However, the movie uses the vampire mythos to deliver sharp commentary on housing insecurity and predatory ownership.
LandLord is set at a dilapidated apartment complex, a place where the stakes are life and death. The narrative kicks off when a nameless bounty hunter (newcomer Adama Abramson) arrives to retrieve a stolen briefcase. However, her mission is interrupted by an orphaned boy named Alex (Cohen James Cooper), whose mother was recently killed by the complex’s sinister owner.
The central menace is the building’s undead owner—the Vampire Landlord (William McKinney). In a terrifying twist, he requires no invitation to enter his tenants’ homes. He already holds the deed, weaponizing property law against the marginalized. Sworn to vengeance for his mother’s death, Alex forces the bounty hunter into an uneasy alliance. So, they must work together not only to confront the vampire but also to overcome their own fears. Additionally, they have his loyal familiar, Christopher (Lance Gerard), and the complicit Sheriff Connor (J. Barrett Cooper).
Colored by Remington Smith’s experience with poverty and his love for the horror genre, LandLord highlights people and places seldom given cinematic focus. Smith, whose prior work (The Woods, The Derby) explored themes of survival in distinct American spaces, combines neo-realist aesthetics with intense horror atmospherics. The result is an evocative horror film. The film offers nuanced characters. It is a subversive take on a monster whose power is derived not from shadows, but from the legal system.
LandLord will make its Film Festival World Premiere at GrimmFest on Friday, October 10, at 3:30 pm at the Odeon Great Northern, Manchester, UK. The North American premiere will take place at Nightmares Film Festival. Attend on October 18 at 2 pm at the Gateway Center in Columbus, Ohio.
