Top 10 Creepiest Horror Movie Landlords!

Landlords. You hate ‘em, I hate ‘em myself. And yet, for those unable to afford a home of their own, they’re a necessary evil. It’s an evil that has been capitalized upon in both cinema and television for decades. Sure, there’s always a good guy or two, a la The Dude’s landlord Marty or Elgar Enders (the Dude’s real life brother) in Hal Ashby’s superb film THE LANDLORD, but by and large, these dough-demanding landlords are a major pain in the ass. And not just the ass, as we’ll see below, but these sick sons-a-bastards inflict pain throughout the human body. As the ludicrous looking THE INTRUDER hits theaters today, let’s have some fun with our Top 10 Creepiest Horror Movie Landlords below!

#10. DALE MASSIE (COLD CREEK MANOR)

Yo, look how the tables have turned on this mother*cker right here. You seeing this shite? Indeed, while Dennis Quaid plays the psycho-stalker-ex-landlord in THE INTRUDER, in a deliciously karmic spin, it was Quaid who was being terrorized by a territorial madman and former landowner in the woefully underwhelming COLD CREEK MANOR. And frankly, who better than a pissed-off-redneck Stephen Dorff to get this goddamn soiree started? This picture says it all, does it not?! The Tilsons face stage left while Dale Massie faces right, literally depicting how backwards, out of place he is and goofily threatening he is. Whoa, is that K.Stew? GET HERE

#9. GERALD (13 CAMERAS)

So manically voyeuristic is this sick f*cker Gerald from 13 CAMERAS, he’s already gone ahead and setup 14 CAMERAS in a sordid and superfluous sequel. In his only two features to date, director Victor Zarcoff struck casting gold in finding New Zealander Neville Archambbault, who plays Gerald with such an odious demeanor that, no matter how outlandish his actions become, we buy his motivations. For those who know not, the film follows a couple with marital issues who move into a new abode. After a series of creepy events, the couple realizes they’re landlord is a crusty old perverted codger who gets his jollies by spying on his tenants through a web of video-feeds. This bastard makes Jimmy Caan in THE GOOD NEIGHBOR look like Mr. Rogers! GET HERE

#8. MAX (THE RESIDENT) 

Look at this depraved heathen right here, all but drooling in a fugue-state as he obsessively leers at his somnolent female tenant. Pretty bad movie, granted, but damn if Jeffrey Dean Morgan doesn’t go all in with his depiction of a lewd landlord, I don’t who does. You know what’s up. Hilary Swank plays a doctor who moves into a too-good-to-be-true Brooklyn loft, only to slowly learn that the owner of the building has become evilly infatuated with her. So much so that he breaks into her apartment at will, spies on her and disrupts her romantic life before making a barbarous advance. With equal parts charm and menace, Dean Morgan is one of the more charismatic of lecherous landlords we’ve ever seen. GET HERE

#7. ZEKE HAWKINS (SLIVER)

Who else broke their VHS rewind button beating off to Sharon Stone in SLIVER back in the day? No? I’m the only one? Really? You’re lying. Oh well, nothing changes the fact that that Billy Baldwin as the aptly named Zeke Hawkins is one of the most fiendish and foulest of duplicitous landlords we’ve ever seen. Remember, he not only lives in the building he owns, he keeps the fact he’s the landlord a secret from his tenants. That’s not the only secret. This lustily vile voyeur has equipped his apartment complex with high-tech surveillance cameras that he uses to spy on his hot young female tenants…in the bathtub! He goes on to seduce the blonde women he leers at, some of which end up as worm-food. GET HERE

#6. MJR. EVELYN RITCHIE (TO KILL A CLOWN)

No doubt our most obscure entry on the list, we urge all y’all to search TO KILL A CLOWN on Youtube (free) and watch how ruthlessly sociopathic Alan Alda is as a deranged military man. Why? Well, Major Ritchie rents his secluded beach-cabin to a pair of idealistic young hippies without a care in the world. But when the couple does things Ritchie disapproves of, he flies off the rails with an enraged temper. Only, since he’s an invalid on walking-stilts, instead of lashing out violently on his own, Ritchie sics his two rabid Doberman Pinchers on the couple with intent to kill. It’s a great performance in a severely underappreciated 70s psychodrama.

#5. CARTER HAYES (PACIFIC HEIGHTS) 

Speaking of underrated, damn if John Schlesinger’s PACIFIC HEIGHTS hasn’t been largely forgotten. Interestingly, this one takes the psychotic landlord template and turns it on its ear. Melanie Griffith and Matthew Modine star as a married couple who purchase an extravagant manse in San Francisco’s glitzy neighborhood. With plans to renovate so they can rent out two apartments, the couple get far more than they bargained for when Carter Hayes shows up (Michael Keaton) and begins turning the couple’s life into a living hell. Keaton absolutely stuns as a craven maniac out to taunt and terrorize his landlords by any murderous means necessary! GET HERE

#4. MONSIEUR ZY (THE TENANT) 

Say what you will about Roman Polanski’s personal life, the fact remains he’s one of the finest filmmakers we’ve ever seen. And among his great films is THE TENANT, a deeply unnerving tale of suicidal paranoia. When a French bureaucrat moves into a new apartment without a bathroom, he learns the previous tenant was a woman named Simone who committed suicide in the bedroom. After investigating, the man begins to believe his irascible landlord Mr. Zy and cantankerous concierge are taking macabre measures to ensure that he also commits suicide in the apartment. Mr. Zy (Melvyn Douglas) implants the tenant’s mind with warped rules and strictures that make the man go crazy to the point of nearly taking his own life. GET HERE

#3. KARL GUNTHER (CRAWLSPACE)

Oh dear. This man needs help. A lot of it. In fact, you know what, so sad and perversely unhinged is old Karl Gunther in CRAWLSPACE, that he’s light-years beyond help at this point. But damn do I love this movie, specifically Klaus Kinski’s ultra-sleazy turn as a Nazi expat who runs a boarding house for young women. As you can see, this creepy old badger literally crawls through the ventilation ducts of his house so that he can masturbatorily peep on his female tenants, often killing them soon after. My lord, this nasty bastard even keeps a poor girl caged up in his attic as a pet-plaything that he continues to both nurture and neglect throughout. Trust us, nobody has ever been creepier than Klaus Kinski in CRAWLSPACE! GET HERE

#2. MARK LEWIS (PEEPING TOM) 

As important a movie as any to the history of the slasher film (including the one below), PEEPING TOM holds serve as one of the finest examples of the form. By day, Mark Lewis is a focus-puller and aspiring filmmaker with a very shy demeanor in London. However, handsome charmer also moonlights as a sadistic psycho-killer he brandishes a sharp bald in the leg of his camera tripod. Mark becomes obsessed with filming his victims’ facial expressions in the moment of their death, which of course he orchestrates with increasing ferocity. To optimize his work, Mark rents out rooms of his London flat, in which he pretends to be a tenant. Simply put, PEEPING TOM is one of the finest dramatic horror stories ever captured on film! GET HERE

#1. NORMAN BATES (PYSCHO) 

Okay, so we’re blurring the lines a bit here, but so what, Norman Bates is famous for doing exactly that…subverting expectation. Seriously though, while Bates is primarily a hotelier who checks out motel rooms to unacquainted motorists, that’s not quite all he is. The distinction from most hoteliers is that Bates lives in the house overlooking the motel, which we assume is owned by his mama, Norma Bates. Of course, Norman and Norma are one in the same, as the former literally murdered his mother and insanely assumed her identity. Ipso facto, Norman owns both Bates Motel and the main house above. That he continues to house the desiccated remains of his mother’s head in a shrine takes the psychotic landlord motif to new heights. BTW, ever notice the final shot of the film and the quick skeletal insert superimposed over Norman's face? Well, you're looking at it! GET HERE