Grimmfest 2025 is in full swing and we've been lucky enough to see some of the gems on show in advance. So first up we chat to Remington Smith, a creative whose given the vampire genre its smartest spin in years in LandLord.
STV: Where did the idea for LandLord come from?
RS: Some of the first movies I saw were Fright Night and The Lost Boys, so vampire movies, and vampire lore, have been a part of my DNA. So, when I was thinking about the vampire rules and the kinds of places I lived as a kid, I wondered how would those mingle if a vampire owned an apartment complex? How would the “you have to invite a vampire into your house” rule work? I didn’t think the residents would have any protection from their undead landlord because if a vampire owned the housing, it’s his, he wouldn’t need an invitation. So, it just took off from there.
STV: It’s such a cool riff on the vampire genre, are you a fan of the legendary “creatures of the night” movies?
RS: I’m a big fan of vampires and in hindsight it seems so obvious I would eventually make a vampire film given my fandom for stuff like Near Dark, The Lost Boys and Duncan Regehr’s uncanny approach to Dracula in The Monster Squad. The more contemporary vampire movies Byzantium and Let Me In are also ones I regularly revisit.
STV: Did you write it with a cast in mind?
RS: I had ideas of either real people I knew that I based a character off of and then I had some cast archetypes that I could see in the roles. But for the writing you’re trying to stay close to who do you think these people are on their own, in this universe. Writing character bios for everyone helped keep it grounded and not too far off and derivative of other works.
STV: Did they have much time to rehearse?
RS: We did some rehearsals for the action stuff, but it was such a scrappy shoot, there wasn’t a lot of time to rehearse.
STV: Was it a tough shoot as it seems to have been all on location?
RS: Thankfully it went really smooth, but I love shooting on location, even if it’s hard. The film gods always give you something interesting if you show up, like the cats we kept coming across or a certain windchime that speaks to the character of a place. I think given both my experiences shooting documentary and enjoying the adventuresome aspects of filmmaking, doing stuff you’d never do otherwise in your life if it wasn’t for making a movie, shooting on location is part of the reason you make a movie.
STV: How did you decide on the look of the vampire in the movie?
RS: I wanted to make sure that the vampire, John, didn’t seem like a mere movie monster. Vampires at the end of the day are humans that have become something different, so there’s still humanity in there and visible on the outside. So that made the makeup effects pretty subtle and then it was easy to go with simple slacks and button-down shirt if he’s a wealthier landlord, just to have the social class distinction between him and the rest of the film’s players.
STV: There’s a wonderful, raw style to the camera work, you do feel like you’re intruding on private conversations, are you influenced by the work of others?
RS: Thank you, that’s great to hear it came off that way. I’m huge fan of Andrea Arnold’s Fish Tank and other neo-realist filmmakers like Anna Boden & Ryan Fleck’s Half Nelson. So, for all the day stuff I wanted that shoulder rig, observational camera moves. Then at night, it was shot in the vein of something like John Carpenter’s The Fog, everything on a tripod or a gimbal, getting this inert, dead feeling camera work to bring out the dread when night comes, and the vampire could conceivable be out in the shadows.
STV: There’s strong social commentary in the movie; how did you make sure it wasn’t drowned out by the horror element?
RS: I hope it isn’t. I think by staying close to the characters, who are they, what do they want, and making sure those things feel true and honest, it helps keep the horror stuff from taking over. I think it’s when you don’t care about the characters because they’re poorly drawn and make decisions that don’t seem properly motivated, that’s when people start to tune out and root for Jason to kill the campers, haha. And then if you care about the characters, if there’s any sort of social commentary you’ve been trying to draw out, that’s something people can feel or discover during or after the movie is over.
STV: This is your second feature, what did you learn from your first that you put into motion for this movie?
RS: This is actually my first narrative feature film. I did a feature documentary, Rubbertown, about environmental hazards near people’s homes and I do think all the documentary experience made me confident to shoot the way we did – find locations that do most of the work for us in terms of lighting and art dept, and then film other things we discover while we’re there like cats and other bits of nature we kept coming across. The biggest influence that put LandLord in motion was actually my short, The Woods. It was dialogue-free, pretty arthouse kind of horror, and after doing that kind of movie, I was ready to do my version of the 80s horror I grew up on: Fun practical special effects and be a little less close to the chest (or pretentious, as some might call it, haha) with this feature idea. Drawing an all the director commentary tracks, making-of featurettes and any other bits of wisdom from my short film experiences, we somehow pulled it off. I came away after feeling like with enough prep, caffeine, creativity, community and kindness, anyone can do it. And make sure you have a good story.
STV: Will you be nervous when the movie is shown at Grimmfest 2025?
RS: Haha, of course! For every new film, during that first screening my stomach drops and my adrenaline screams at me that I’ve forgotten some crucial thing to add to the film or I screwed up the sound and the film won’t play right, and people will wince at the stupid mistakes. I also chalk those nerves up to being a former projectionist, where you’re always paranoid about technical issues. But it’s also a rush when it works, and all the late-night work and polishing let’s an audience experience the emotional ride as intended. It’s why I keep making movies.
STV: So, what are you working on at the moment?
RS: Things here in the States feel very unstable, so I feel a little unmoored on how to plan next projects. But I do have one feature idea I’m developing. In the short term I might try to do a music video.
STV: Remington Smith, thank you very much.
