The Landlord

2016, 5 minutes

The discovery of a Landlords secret

Natalie, a confident and determined but naive girl in her twenties with a broken leg and crutches, has organised to surprise her boyfriend on his birthday, to find he's not in. She leaves a message on his phone and is then invited next door by Tom's landlord Geoff, who has a polite exterior but something slightly unsettling about him. At this point the film turns into a thriller. The audience see Geoff pocketing the keys he claims to be searching for, and places Natalie's crutches wear she can't reach them. When she picks up a photo of his family, his response tells us something has happened to them, she places it back next to a heavy candlestick. When Geoff goes off to make tea, Natalie makes a blood-curdling discovery. Sitting on the remote, the tv turns on to reveal a number of tenants being secretly filmed. In a tense scene, the batteries fall on the floor so she crawls down to find them before Geoff returns. She manages to turn the television off just as Geoff re-enters. Unable to cover her unease, Geoff looks down and sees the remote. The action cuts to Tom, who is nearly home, replying to Natalie's voice message and telling her to wait. Natalie then takes things into her control and goes to attack Geoff, at which point the screen goes blank. Tom returns to the house, but finds he's locked himself out. He goes over to Geoff's, looks through the window and recoils in horror. We do not know whether it is Geoff or Natalie he can see.

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