How dark do you like your horror? Or your comedy? Because, Hemet or The Landlady Don’t Drink Tea, a satirical look at our current society, prefers to go darker than dark and, in doing so, presents a comically off-kilter world dealing with an unspecified epidemic that has absolutely no hope in surviving it . . .
. . . and that’s by design, thanks to a tyrannical landlady Liz Tophan-Myrtle (Brian Patrick Butler), who seems to be fostering an incredibly tense atmosphere of fear and paranoia as she capitalizes on a bad economy and a zombie outbreak.
Director Tony Olmos's unique tale focuses on the strings she tightens as her tenants go after one another, which makes this film - even if the characters are disturbing and unkind and certainly not people you’d want to be associated with - an interesting study on the effects of being ruthlessly controlled. Is this not where we are headed in this society? It certainly feels that way and Olmos has his pulse on that, making comments on the aspects of this society that we can relate to.
But, in this world, the landlords run supreme and grow more powerful thanks to erosion of trust and friendship. Gulp. The division runs deep here as Liz grows more powerful; more warped; and more and more out of control. Butler’s performance is one for the books, though. It definitely works to create an unhinged nightmare where all the crap she pulls seems possible.
With a strong ensemble cast, this twisted world comes to life and leaves an impression which is hard to break free from. Kimberly Weinberger as Rosie and Matthew Rhodes as Gary bring some sanity to the situation and Nick Young's Tank will definitely wind you up as cinematographer Justin Burquist’s lens enriches this low-budget affair. Complete with original music by Anton Elms, Hemet proves to be most original.
Hemet or The Landlady Don’t Drink Tea is a raw exploration of the current trends here in America and definitely serves as a warning, yet the film - as it tackles on a whole lot of themes and stuffs them into one genre - doesn’t quite land on its feet. There is so much weight involved in these moving pieces that it feels like the characters never escape being caricatures which makes the reliability factor suffer - even if we can identify with horrible landlords.
It’s definitely dark and the comedy plays well. But Hemet won’t work for some audiences. It doesn’t always work, but lightning absolutely crashes when it does and, honestly, that’s enough to make this flick a worthy discovery.
Hemet or The Landlady Don’t Drink Tea is now playing thanks to BayView Entertainment.
MPAA Rating: TV-MA.
Runtime: 89 mins
Director: Tony Olmos
Writer: Brian Patrick Butler
Cast: Kimberly Weinberger; Brian Patrick Butler; Aimee La Joie
Genre: Horror | Comedy
Tagline: The Landlady Don't Drink Tea
Memorable Movie Quote: "Have you noticed any strange behavior coming from your tenants over the last couple weeks?"
Distributor: Bayview Entertainment
Official Site: https://www.instagram.com/hemetmovie/
Release Date: Now playing
DVD/Blu-ray Release Date:
Synopsis: A tyrannical landlady lords it over her tenants during an epidemic, pitting them against each other in a web of paranoia spun for deadly results.
