The People Under the Stairs

1991 "In every neighborhood, there is one house that adults whisper about and children cross the street to avoid."
6.4| 1h43m| R| en| More Info
Released: 01 November 1991 Released
Producted By: Universal Pictures
Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website:
Info

Trapped inside a fortified home owned by a mysterious couple, a young boy quickly learns the true nature of the homicidal inhabitants, and secret creatures hidden deep within the walls.

Genre

Horror, Comedy

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Director

Wes Craven

Production Companies

Universal Pictures

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The People Under the Stairs Audience Reviews

Pluskylang Great Film overall
Neive Bellamy Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.
Candida It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.
Kimball Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.
djfrost-46786 Yes I see the Pulp Fiction stuff. Yes I see the Annihilator the bands cover so called Allison In Hell. It's a different kind of movie. Still just an average movie. 5 stars not above.
Darth-Helmet In an L.A. Neighborhood, 13 year old boy named Fool (Brandon Adams) has problems as he just turn 13 and has a dying mother, there the landlords want to kick him and his family out. Leroy (Ving Rhames) who is a family friend wants to help Fool break into the wealthy greedy landlords (Everett McGille and Wendy Robie) where a fortune of gold coins is rumored to be inside the house. Yet what they discover once inside the house is terror like the dog that would attack them to finding out that they kidnapped and tortured boys to put them in the cellar like animals who are turned into deformed creatures. Fool must find a way to get out of the house with the help of the adopted daughter of the couple named Alice (AJ Linder).Very entertaining, unsual and well made horror comedy thriller from Wes Craven is one of his finest films. He was inspired to write this film after reading a real-life news story about burglars breaking into a house. When authorities arrived, the burglars had disappeared but they discovered locked doors with noises coming from behind. Children had been locked up inside the rooms by their parents, never allowed to go outside. This movie deals with the themes of incest since the evil couple in this movie are siblings and cannibalism thrown into it along with the themes of abuse and all. Wes's direction is quite fine for this movie and i like how suspensful and thrilling this movie is including about the screwed up darkside of some neighborhoods especially the Robeson couple being an incestious one who likes to kidnap young males to torture them even cut off their tounges or eyes or ears for speak no evil hear no evil or see no evil which is quite messed up subject matter. The performance by the lead kid who plays Fool is quite likable and does a solid job as this is one of the rare horror movies that has a kid for a lead and i like that aspect of it. The couple from Twin Peaks in this movie does a solid job as the psycho mother and father, you actually despise the evil characters in this movie and want them to die because they are totally despicable pieces of inhuman monster crap. Sean Whalen did a great job playing Roach the mute deformed young man in this movie who helps Fool. Saw this in theaters as a kid and enjoyed it, this movie became a hit and a cult fave that influenced many films even the recent Resident Evil 7 as one of it's influences. Recommended if you want something fun.Similar movies recommended: "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)", "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2", "Leatherface Texas Chainsaw Massacre 3", "Texas Chainsaw Massacre The Beginning", "The Burbs", "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2003", "Flowers in The Attic", "House by The Cemetery", "House (1986)", "Fright Night", "Day of the Dead", "Basket Case", "Motel Hell", "Mother's Day (1980)", "Isand of Lost Souls (1932)", "House of 1000 Corpses", "The Devil's Rejects", "Hellraiser", "Crawlspace", "The Unseen".
andyvanberkum I love this movie, first of all. I think it is delightfully creepy. A house in a regular old place, I imagine, with regular old folks living in it. But inside its walls is Roach and his pals, the People Under the Stairs. And two bros come in and they meet Alice and say, "Hey, baby, what's up?" Then those two psychos come in and throw Alice in the hot, hot water. Was this movie a Twin Peaks spin off that no one wants to admit to? WHO JUST SAID FOR OBVIOUS REASONS?! WHO SAID IT!!!!!!Roach is cool. "I don't give a (you know what,) he might say to his buddies, the People Under the Stairs." And they'd be like, "Damn right, Roach, we're getting out of this place." And the brothers come in and free them. It's a spooky film to watch this pumpkin popperific Halloween!
Dom Nickson Spoiler Alert!!! I'll start by saying I really do adore Wes Craven's style of directing I mean it is fun, entertaining and really just overall enjoyable. This film we are treated to an African American boy you might recognize from the sandlot or the Moon Walker. He is a pretty unusual but cool main character who seems to have that main character cheat when it comes to times he actually wouldn't have survived. For instants he electrocutes himself to take out the dog, he almost gets himself killed by blowing up the last villain, and he almost gets shot, a lot by a man wearing a weird leather suit. The whole movie is pretty awesome and it makes you actually build sympathy for the characters. Wes Craven has done it again! 8 out of 10.