The People Under The Stairs
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Movie Reviews of The People Under The Stairs
Movie Review: Totally Underated....Awesome movie....weak dvd though!
Summary: 5 Stars
Wes Cravens, "people under the stairs," deff never got the respect it derserved. Its a sick and twisted movie..Shall we begin? A brother and sister own a funeral home, pretending to be a couple they steal a girl claiming her to be the daughter. Meanwhile, they have other kidnapped people living in the basement. Finally a young boy steps up and tries to fight the sick family and help thier so called "daughter." you have to see the rest for yourself its a sick and cool movie. My only problem with this movie is the extras, wes craven did absolutley nothing with the dvd. No commentary, no deleted scenes, not even a trailer!!! At least they did get to release it on dvd, but horror fans can't get everything they want now can they? Anyway its still a must buy!Movie Review: Typical pre-Scream Craven horror
Summary: 4 Stars
Taking a cue to his early grittier works in Last House on the Left and The Hills Have Eyes, horror maestro Wes Craven helmed this interesting horror flick in which a young boy becomes trapped in a house with a cannibal couple that has a ghoulish secret. The People Under the Stairs has it's share of social commentary and some true early Craven wickedness, and as a whole the film works as one of Craven's better horror ventures. The DVD release is disappointing as usual however; this is one of Universal's recent horror DVD releases which include no extras, not even a trailer. A commentary by Craven or a documentary would have been more than welcome, but alas, there is nothing here in terms of extras.Movie Review: Great, but comedy holds it from being a total scare fest
Summary: 5 Stars
In every neighborhood there is one house that adults whisper about and children cross the street to avoid.Wes Craven can do a lot for his movies. One thing he can't do in
The People Under the Stairs is make comedy out of an otherwise tense situation.
It's Fool's (Brandon Adams) 13th birthday and his family is being evicted from their rat infested hell hole apartment in the Ghetto. The landlord's rules are: 3 days late=triple the rent and Fool's family cannot afford it. His sister, Ruby (Kelly Jo Minter) barely makes enough money for her kids, his mother is sick from a cancer that she cannot afford to get taken out and he has no job. But when Ruby's boyfriend, LeRoy (Ving Rhames) discovers a treasure map from the liquor store he and his buddy in crime Spencer (Jeremy Roberts) knocked over the previous sunday they get an idea to rob the house that the map belongs to.
Things get stranger when the map actually belongs to the crazy landlords (Everett McGill and Wendy Robie) who seem to be more sinister than anything imaginable. With a couple of tricks up their sleeves, the trio sets out to the house using various disguises such as a plumber (Spencer) and a Little Bear Trooper (Fool). Only Spencer is allowed inside and even he doesn't make it out alive. Fool and LeRoy decide to sneak in after the couple leave their house, making LeRoy and Fool wonder if Spencer made it to the gold. The bad news is-while sneaking around and attempting to avoid the pet pitbull, Prince the landlords come home to find LeRoy searching the house. The man and woman assume that he's the only one there so they kill him and feed him to the "people under the stairs". Meanwhile, Fool meets Alice (A.J. Langer) the "daughter" of the couple who's abused and all she'll do is sew little dolls of the people who have tried to get the money.
After a daring escape from the house with gold coins given to Fool by Roach (Sean Whalen)-one of the people under the stairs who has escaped into the walls. Fool finds out that he has enough money to pay rent for a few years and for his mother's operation but there's one thing he's gotta do: go back to the house and rescue Alice.
The People Under the Stairs is an enjoyable horror flick whether you like the dark humor or not is up to you. I personally found it out of place. A scene would get really scary but then a joke is flown in and destroys the atmosphere. There's some nice gore including LeRoy's upside-down gutting. There's also overtones to incest and S&M but that's not what the film focuses on.
RECCOMENDED TO FANS OF:
Flowers in the Attic (1987)
The Stepfather (1987)
A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)
CAST:
Brandon Q. Adams ....Fool
Everett McGill....Man
Wendy Robie ....Woman
A.J. Langer.....Alice
Ving Rhames....Leroy
THE MOVIE: 3.5/4
THE PICTURE QUALITY: 9.5/10. 1.85:1 Anamorphic Widescreen. Very good but sometimes there are specs and grain on the print.
THE AUDIO QUALITY: 8/10. Presented in English 2.0 Dolby Digital Surround and Spanish 2.0 Mono. Sounded great but Universal could have included a 5.1 Surround.
THE SPECIAL FEATURES: Reccomendations for 2 movies. Shocker and The Serpent and the Rainbow (both from Wes Craven). By far the worst I've seen yet. I'm surprised that Universal didn't just give us a blank page to look at. They could have added more of the reccomendations from the insert since the insert doesn't show any chapter stops, just reccomedations
Movie Review: good entertainment
Summary: 3 Stars
"The People Under The Stairs" is purely good entertainment and you must treat it as so. If you rate it as you would "The Seventh Seal" then you would give it one star and say skip but for what it is, it is worth watching for a good laugh and a few hours of entertainment, if that is what you like. It's just got so much to offer: a 13 year old boy who turns hardcore (holding a shotgun and swearing by the end of the film), a David Byrne look-alike who is a racist Christian that randomly dresses in a sex slave leather outfit (like the gimp in "Pulp Fiction") and calls himself Roach, and it even has a political message at the end akin to Marvin Gaye's social commentary in his album "What's Going On." So how could you not want to watch this film? Invite some friends over, have a few beers, and watch "The People Under The Stairs" for some entertainment and fun.Movie Review: Alice In Horrorland...
Summary: 5 Stars
Picture the perfect american family. Now, erase that image and stare wide-eyed at the hideous reptiles who pass for a family in THE PEOPLE UNDER THE STAIRS! Alice is a young girl, trapped in a world of death, mutilation, cannibalism, torture, and sexual abuse. Her "parents" are in reality two demented siblings, living as husband and wife. "Daddy" is a sado-masochistic cannibal who looks like Lurch (from the Addams family)'s uglier brother. "Mommy" is a stone-cold witch with her own bloodlust and child-rearing issues. Alice has been reduced to a near zombie through years of being incarcerated in her own "home". She's not alone, as the basement is full of those unlucky enough to have entered this place and seen too much. A boy called Fool (from the tarot card) enters the house with Leroy (Ving Rhames) looking for hidden treasure. They are met by a guard-dog from hell, and discover that they aren't in kansas any more! The house is actually a fortress, sealed off from the outside world. Loaded with gadgets, secret passages, and deadly boobytraps, Fool and Leroy are transformed from burglars into hunted prey. This psychotic funhouse is a continuous stream of surprises! The freaks in THIS carnival will eat you if you're not extremely careful and blessed with wisdom and speed! Can Fool survive? Will things turn out alright? Will the truth about the people under the stairs be revealed? Will Alice finally get away? These questions are answered in this terrifying masterpiece. Highly recommended...