The People Under the Stairs (1991)

 

Director Wes Craven has usually managed to bring thrills and chills with a bit of a twist. This one is no exception and it also has a dose of comedy thrown in that only serves to make the horrific stuff even worse. Not to mention some social commentary as well, which we'll get to in a moment. This film however wasn't marketed as well as it could have been, which is why many people seem to either disregard it or have no recollection. 

But trust me: it is far better than you might think.

The story takes off on a young boy's 13th birthday. He's nicknamed Fool by pretty much everyone and he lives in a dilapidated apartment building, where his family is the only one left and the landlord is about to evict them. Thing is, they have nowhere to go as the family is poor and the mom has cancer. Fool is sort of coerced by a friend of his sister (Ving Rhames) to scout the house of the landlord for a robbery, as it is believed the landlord has an invaluable collection of old gold coins. 

So Fool and two thugs set out to scope the surroundings of the house and they even manage to get inside, but this is where things take a turn for the worse, as the landlord and his wife are far from what they appear to be. In fact, the house is a veritable prison/maze of sorts and there are plenty of secrets being kept behind closed doors. 

Obviously this all has something to do with people living under the stairs, as it is in the title after all, but any viewer will soon discover the real horror does not come from those mentioned, but rather from the landlord and spouse...

No, no real spoilers. Even though it won't harm the enjoyment of this film, taking away several reveals might be detrimental to your viewing pleasure.

This film gets a lot of its thrills from the claustrophobia of being trapped inside of a house that you don't know. It truly doesn't feel like a house as such, but more like a charnel prison or maze where the guards are incessantly hunting you. To that end, the casting is pretty darn good. Young Brandon Adams is okay as Fool, but he is nowhere near the most memorable of the movie. No, that distinction goes squarely to Everett McGill and Wendy Robie as the landlord and his wife. Apparently, Wes Craven cast them because he liked their chemistry from 'Twin Peaks' where they played husband and wife and you can tell both of them are very much accustomed to working off one another. They also relish in their parts, bringing equal parts hammy insanity and ice-cold psychomania to the screen. 

They're really, really good at it. 

In fact, they even have some comic relief at times (especially McGill), but even though you can laugh at them at times, that instantly gets flipped around when you consider just what is happening. And the movie's climax (two of them, actually) are great. In fact, this movie is ridiculously tense a lot of the time, even if and when you have seen it more than once.

Well done, mister Craven. You really did deliver yet again. 

Suffice to say that if you like tense and unconventional horror, this might actually be the film for you. It has a bit of everything and above all it is highly memorable, with two villains who belong among the pantheon of most deranged killers in cinema. It's that much of a good time.

Check it out if you have the chance, you won't be disappointed.