Thursday, February 23, 2012

THE PEOPLE UNDER THE STAIRS (1991)


Written & Directed By: Wes Craven
Cinematography By: Sandi Sissell
Editor: James Coblentz

CAST: Brandon Adams, Wendy Robie, A.J. Langer, Everett McGill, Sean Whalen, Kelly Jo Minter, Ving Rhames, Bill Cobbs, Jeremy Roberts


The People Under the Stairs is the story of a young boy (Fool) from the ghetto and takes place on his 13th birthday. In an attempted burglary (along with two others) of the home of his family's evil landlords, he becomes trapped inside their large suburban house and discovers the secret of the "children" that the insane brother and sister have been "rearing" under the stairs.

Wes Craven was inspired to write this after coming across an article in the newspaper about parents who locked up their kids and never let them in the outside world.

This is a favorite form my teenage years one of the first horror films I really enjoyed and watched repeatedly not only then but over the years. I would continuously rent the film and watch it over and over again. Notice new things each time I watched it.

I believe one of the reason I enjoyed it is the fact that it is a light horror that is more appropriate for teenagers then adults. There is violence but it’s not heavy violence. The film relies more on shock and thrills then anything else. It is also the rare horror film that has an African American as the lead and minorities as supporting characters.

The film has Brandon Adams as Fool who goes into the house to help pay for the care of his sick mother by joining up with his sister’s boyfriend to pull a con. They aren’t prepared what they are in for. The film then more or less presents younger characters as our protagonists and the heroes of the film where as the weird older couple are the villains. The house is a warped funhouse filled with booby traps, Secret passages, secret rooms as the villains hunt him down. He is also trying to avoid the monsters or so he thinks of The People Under The Stairs. It makes sense that the leads are played by child actors as they are small enough to fit around all the nooks and crannies of the house. With all of it’s small spaces and traps.

The film is actually fun. It has a child’s sense of wonder while giving you chills and being kind of dark. One of the many reasons I enjoy the film is the cast. A early performance by Ving Rhames who isn’t in the film much but is entertaining when he is. Also A. J. Langer who appeared in this film right before she starred in one of my Favorite tv shows MY SO CALLED LIFE only added to the cool factor of the film and my enjoyment of the film. She is clearly olderthen 12 years old which is supposed to be the age of hercharacter. She was actually 17 at the time of this film. Also Everett McGill from TWIN PEAKS is the right amount of scary and creepy while also being human. He is reunited with his tv wife from the show Wendy Robie. Brandon Adams is perfect as the lead, Wise beyond his years full of energy, spontaneous and funny. He was a Successful Child Actor appearing in THE SANDLOT, Michael Jackson Videos, the television shows MARTIN and A DIFFERENT WORLD. He never got a good lead role as he has here. It’s a shame he had star potential

The film hints at some inappropriate things without showing it that gives the film a perfect off-kilter feeling, Making it feel strangely fun yet grim, like a messed up fairy tale. As it continuously hints at more of a sinister story then is necessarily presented.

Wes Craven truly surprised me with this film as he has never been as playful as he was here. Nor did he seem to achieve exactly what he set out to then in this film. His other films Such as SHOCKER and DEADLY FRIEND seem to have good ideas but the follow through didn’t work as much as the idea. Here he gets to tell a full and complete story. It doesn’t seem he is trying to reinvent the wheel, not trying to create an iconic character.

This is a film you should definitely seek out and discover if you haven’t already.

GRADE: B

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