THE PEOPLE UNDER THE STAIRS
A film review by Ken Johnson
Copyright 1991 Ken Johnson
95 min., R, Horror, 1991
Director: Wes Craven
Cast: Brandon Adams, Everett McGill, Wendie Robie, A.J. Langer, Bill Cobb,
Kelly Jo Minter
Brandon Adams's family is being evicted from their ghetto apartment by the cruel landlord because they are three days late on the rent payment. Adams and two other older boys, to get the money for the rent, plan to rob the landlord's house. They go and case the house and one of the boys goes in to get a layout of any alarm systems. When he does not come out and the landlord leaves the house, they suspect him of trying to steal all the money for himself. They break into the house to find him and find that they are trapped by the house, and those who lurk in it.
THE PEOPLE UNDER THE STAIRS is rated R for explicit language and graphic violence. I give the film a five on a zero to five scale. THE PEOPLE UNDER THE STAIRS is a definite must see for any fan of horror or any fan of Wes Craven's work while it is still in the theaters. I recommend the film at full price.
Being a big fan of Wes Craven's work I rushed out to the theater to see THE PEOPLE UNDER THE STAIRS. Wes Craven is the director of great horror works such as DEADLY BLESSING a horror film about a girl that is being terrorized by a religious group, THE SERPENT & THE RAINBOW a voodoo horror film, SHOCKER a horror film about a man who was killed and can travel through television sets and kill people, a television film called CHILLER about a man who was cryogenically frozen who defreezes and starts killing people, the now famous original A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET film, and many others. Each of Wes Craven's works are unique and this one is no different.
Craven's films, instead of being slasher films, have substance to them. I'm not saying that I dislike slasher films, I'm just saying that Craven's films are different than most of the "modern horror films." THE PEOPLE UNDER THE STAIRS does have graphic violence, but the main point of the film is not to see how many people can be slaughtered; the emphasis is more on the actual scare factor. So, I recommend THE PEOPLE UNDER THE STAIRS to anyone who wishes to see a good horror film but does not like slasher films. Like some of Wes Craven's work--excluding SHOCKER, A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET, DEADLY FRIEND, and SWAMP THING--THE PEOPLE UNDER THE STAIRS could possibly happen, which makes the movie all the better.
THE PEOPLE UNDER THE STAIRS, like most films, will lose some of its impact when seen on a small screen television. The special effects in the film are very well done. The house has a sinister look to it even in the daytime. Did anyone else who saw the film notice that the house has the same basic floor plan of Freddy's house from A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET? The actors all put in good performances. In a horror film most people think that how good the actor's performance is has nothing to do with the quality of the horror film, but it does. If an actor doesn't believe what he's acting then the people watching the film will never believe it either. So often, to save money, the actors in a horror film have no ability which, in my opinion, harms the finished product. However, even though the cast of this film was mostly unknown to me, the actors in the film have real ability. The only actor in the film that I recognized was Kelly Jo Minter. I have seen her in films like HOUSE PARTY, NEW JACK CITY, A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET 5: THE DREAM CHILD, and POPCORN.
So go out and see this film; night time is always the best time to see a horror film.
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