The People Under the Stairs (1991)

Why so much hype?

Save your money for something good and enjoyable

It is not deep, but it is fun to watch. It does have a bit more of an edge to it than other similar films.

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

The People Under the Stairs (1991) *** (out of 4) Stuck in the ghetto and about to be evicted while his mother is needing surgery for a cancer, a young kid known as Fool (Brandon Adams) agrees to help a man break into the landlord's house because there's rumors that it is full of gold. The two make it inside the house but they run into a bizarre couple (Everett McGill, Wendy Robie) as well as many other things living in the basement.By the time 1991 rolled around the horror genre was pretty much dead but there were a few interesting movies that managed to get released, although the box office numbers still weren't very good. Wes Craven's THE PEOPLE UNDER THE STAIRS is a film with many, many flaws but at the same time it's certainly an original film that tries to do something more than just shock the viewer with gore effects. The film manages to mix in a political statement with the horror and there's even some humor thrown in as well.I think the best thing going for the movie is the lead character and the actor. The situation is quite simple as a poor kid must resort to a crime so that his family might have a better future. We already want to see the kid succeed at getting the money but once we see how derange the two living inside the house are we just want to see him win even more. Adams gives an extremely good performance for someone his age and it's certainly a lot better than you typically see in a film like this. A.J. Langer is also extremely good in her role as a girl trapped inside the house. McGill has always been fun to watch and he and Robie have a great chemistry together. Even Ving Rhames is good in his part.Craven certainly knows how to milk a scene for drama and he perfectly knows how to set up various scenes that are aimed to build tension. The atmosphere he creates is certainly another major plus as is the terrific cinematography and the music score. However, there are some flaws including the fact that the movie runs at least ten minutes too long. Some of the scenes go on a bit too long and I think it was a mistake leaving the house for a brief period of time towards the end.Still, THE PEOPLE UNDER THE STAIRS is a rather original movie and while it didn't have the same impact as something like A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET, it's still an interesting movie that's worth watching.

Poindexter 'Fool' Williams (Brandon Quintin Adams) is a kid from a poor black neighbourhood with a terminally ill mother and whose family are facing imminent eviction from their run-down apartment. His mother's disease is operable, but they do not have the funds to pay for her treatment, nor can they afford the extortionate rent set by their greedy landlords the Robesons (Twin Peaks' Wendy Robie and Everett McGill). Fool's criminal 'friend' Leroy (Ving Rhames) suggest that they break into the Robesons rich suburban home to steal the store of loot rumoured to be hoarded somewhere in the house. Once inside, they find themselves facing angry dogs and a bunch of cannibalistic freaks in the basement.Although packaged and labelled as a horror and helmed by genre legend Wes Craven, The People Under the Stairs feels more akin to a boy's adventure movie, specifically those that emerged in the 1980's with children as their protagonists. The tone is often light-hearted and playful, with Fool playing the role of terrified but gadget- savvy child. Adams thankfully keep the levels of precociousness to a minimum, so we can cheer him on while he dodges the shotgun blasts from the insane Robesons, who refer to each other as Mommy and Daddy while they are actually brother and sister. They keep their only daughter Alice (A.J. Langer) under a strict, watchful eye, so she proves to be valuable to asset to Fool once he befriends her.The lurking creatures under the stairs scowl and grab but do little else. Anyone hoping for a twisted, incestuous gore-fest like the title and presence of the director's name may suggest will be disappointed, for this is relatively mild stuff for the most part, and it does feel like an opportunity was missed somewhat. The 100 minute running-time drags towards the end, with various false climaxes stretching the patience. But for the most part, this is entertaining fluff, with Craven managing to squeeze some excitement out of every tiny crevice of the setting, and there's even a bit of social commentary in there somewhere.

The greatest achievement that Wes Craven made with this film was to make a story over a thousand years old fresh and original. This is Wes Craven at his best, taking a classic fairy tale format and bringing it into the modern age. Before thinking this is just a horror film, the idea of a witch fattening up children with candy to eat their raw flesh, is pretty horrific, yet Hansel and Grete is told to millions of children every year. Wes Craven plays with the dark horror behind every fairy tale, and instead of using an old brush, spray paints a new horrific fairy tale, with every classic element you could wish for with a modern spin. For me this is Wes Craven's best film, bold, outrages, truly original and unlikely ever to be made again. A wonderfully modern fairytale!!

I remember when this movie first came out I had to be about 8 or 9 years old. Growing up I had a cool mom who loved watching horror movies and she used to let me watch them with her. This used to be one of my favorite movies. Every chance it was on I would watch it. Lets face it they don't make movies like this anymore. Nothing special about this movie just good old fashion horror fun. I love around Halloween time when you turn on the TV and you have a movie like People Under the Stairs on and you say to yourself: 'it's been years since I seen this'. I don't understand how this movie has so many bad reviews what else can you ask for from a Wes Craven movie?! People are just spoiled these days . You can give me this movie over some of the crap that Hollywood has pooped out in the past 10 years. Once my daughter is old enough we will both sit down and watch the awesomeness that is People Under the Stairs.