The Landlady (1998) from Tuna

The Landlady (1998) is, as near as I can tell, a Canadian direct to vid. It doesn't fit neatly into horror or slasher. Crime thriller might be closer.
Talia Shire sees her husband having sex with Laura Pursell through a window, and does him in, then moves to LA to run an apartment house she just inherited. One of the tenants is exactly to her liking, and she decides he is going to marry her and make her happy. He is not in on these plans, however. To protect her turf, she kills the former business manager, and moves him into the large apartment next to hers, after installing a two way mirror, and a surveillance camera. She kills anyone she perceives as a threat to her "relationship," including tenant and hooker Susie Singer. 

NUDITY REPORT

see the main commentary
 The transfer is weak, and the plot did not engage me at all, especially as every murder was telegraphed. The acting was sometimes competent, however. Pursell and Singer both show breasts. 

DVD info from Amazon.

  • no widescreen 

  • no meaningful features

Scoop's comment:

What the hell happened to Talia Shire's career that she would be in something like this? Sad times, indeed.

The Critics Vote

  • Apollo 28/100

The People Vote ...

  • With their votes ... IMDB summary: IMDb voters score it 3.7, Apollo users 36/100. 
IMDb guideline: 7.5 usually indicates a level of excellence, about like three and a half stars from the critics. 6.0 usually indicates lukewarm watchability, about like two and a half stars from the critics. The fives are generally not worthwhile unless they are really your kind of material, about like two stars from the critics. Films under five are generally awful even if you like that kind of film, equivalent to about one and a half stars from the critics or less, depending on just how far below five the rating is.

My own guideline: A means the movie is so good it will appeal to you even if you hate the genre. B means the movie is not good enough to win you over if you hate the genre, but is good enough to do so if you have an open mind about this type of film. C means it will only appeal to genre addicts, and has no crossover appeal. D means you'll hate it even if you like the genre. E means that you'll hate it even if you love the genre. F means that the film is not only unappealing across-the-board, but technically inept as well.

Based on this description, this film is a C-.

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