THE PEOPLE UNDER THE STAIRS: 1991: HRR --: If you're in the mood to watch a flashback movie with some vintage 90s horror and non CGI special effects, as well as one of Wes Craven's obscure movies, The People Under the Stairs is worth watching.
Much of the movie can fall into the campy horror segment, with some tongue in cheek moments, but it's all Wes Craven. You can even see some of the elements that led to his other great films. Some of it is rudimentary, and the story is a little cliche, but it has enough originality to make it worth watching for fans of Craven's work.
Good ole fashioned makeup and no CGI makes this a campy sleeper.
The story is straight forward enough regarding a boy who has to get money to save his family from eviction and his mother from cancer. Ahh, the 90s plot setup, so quaint. That's where the obvious ends and the oddness begins. The family whose home they are about to burglarize is quite off the beaten path and holds many secrets as well as a deranged "couple" who make even Buffalo Bill's home look clean.
What secrets lay in this house of horrors? Is there an escape?
After two casualties, a young boy, played fairly well by Brandan Evens, is left to uncover the secrets and the many hidden traps and peculiar aspects of this home. He's locked in with no way out and quickly encounters hidden people that have been starved and driven to cannibalism living in the basement...yes the basement..quaint as I said.
The inhabitants of the basement expect a human treat from time to time.
As I mentioned there are some campy elements in this movie, and it does deliver some scares, but they are usually backed up by a chuckle or two. It's one of those movies that you can be scared and laugh at a few times. I found the scenes with the dog, Prince, especially funny because they took on a sort of cartoon element.
There's Prince, chewing on what's left of an arm. Kibbles and Bits anyone?
Between the dog and the people under the stairs, young Fool, as the main lead is called, has to deal with the couple in the home, who are actually sister and brother in what seems to be an incestual relationship. They speak no evil, hear no evil, and see no evil. Otherwise anyone that does, "Goes to Hell", which becomes their murder mantra.
The couple in the home have some serious, including being cannibals.
To deal with unruly inhabitants that sometimes escape or "Act up", the father, called "daddy", wears a very odd outfit to protect himself and is usually armed with an automatic shotgun. He hunts the little boy fool, and "Roach", one of the people under the stairs that escaped and walks around the walls.
Daddy is in full armor here, hunting fool and anyone, or anything that gets in his way.
The boy manages to escape but promises to return to rescue Alice, who is the girl trapped inside the home and presumably the daughter of the deranged couple. She helps Roach and Fool on many occasions but is scared to leave.
Alice is usually cowering behind a door or a wall, but helps out in a great way!
Can you recognize who she is?
Through many close calls and extremely violent sections between Daddy, Mommy and the Fool, they do finally escape, with the help of the community, which comes to help.
Preparing for a fight. I hope or else this is way too kinky for my taste!
Plot being what it is, the characters were developed as well as a campy horror movie needs them to be and the music was derivative 90s horror. That's where the nostalgia comes in so it's great! I enjoyed watching this movie and cracked up a bunch of times. For what it was and what is still is, it deserves to be mentioned among Craven's work, even if it's just a "movie for a laugh". 72%
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