The People Under the Stairs (1991)

Wes Craven was one of the more frustrating horror directors.  He churned out a lot of movies, some for television, and kept doing so even when he had big hits.  After A Nightmare on Elm Street came the TV movie Chiller, followed by the ridiculous Deadly Friend.  The only good movie he did for the rest of the decade was The Serpent and the Rainbow, an atypically strange film involving voodoo, before he brought us Mitch Pileggi as electric Freddy in Shocker.

But, true to form, he pulled another strange movie out of his hat to open the 1990s with The People Under the Stairs.  Taking inspiration from a real-life incident in which a burglary call led to police finding a couple's children locked in their rooms, Craven came up with this urban fairytale of two monstrous landlords who get up to all sort of evil, including keeping a number of teenagers prisoner in their home. 

Fool (Brandon Quintin Adams) is a young boy whose family is facing eviction from the dilapidated slum in which they live.  His mother is dying of cancer and, with no money for a hospital or to pay rent, is looking at not being on Earth much longer.  That is why when Leroy (Ving Rhames), a friend of his sister Ruby (Kelly Jo Minter), asks him to help out with breaking into their landlords' house to steal a coin collection he agrees to go along with it.

Along for the ride is Spenser (Jeremy Roberts), who tries to gain entry masquerading as a gas company representative.  When he doesn't come out Leroy becomes suspicious that he is trying to steal the collection for himself.  He decides he is going to break in himself and takes Fool, only to find that they are trapped inside the house.  The landlords, a woman (Wendy Robie) and man (Everett McGill), turn out to be violently insane.  Their daughter Alice (A.J. Langer), who befriends Fool and tries to help him, lives in fear, as all the male children the couple have brought in to be their son have been disobedient and banished to the basement after having various body parts cut off.  One, Roach (Sean Whalen), has escaped and lives within the walls, to the frustration of the man of the house.  Fool must find a way to escape what is in fact a prison and make it back home, while hoping to save Alice as well.

Everett McGill and Wendy Robie came to Craven's attention due to their roles in the television show Twin Peaks, and since they worked well together he cast them as the villains.  McGill is as over-the-top as can be, dressed in a gimp suit while shooting holes in the wall to kill Roach when he's not snacking on intruders.  Robie gives it her best Mommy Dearest while the two of them spout scripture and wish for everyone to burn in hell.  The performances border on comedy and, in this case, it is so strange and surreal that it had to be Craven's intent.  They are two of the most despicable bad guys to appear on film and it is obvious they were having a blast with the roles.

That doesn't take away from Brandon Quintin Adams, who had previous acting credits on television, and had his most memorable role as Fool.  A.J. Langer plays the shellshocked daughter who has pretty much had all resistance beaten out of her until Roach and Fool both give her some purpose.  There is some great makeup work done on both Whalen and the other actors portraying the male children who have been kept imprisoned in the basement and the set design of the house, what is supposed to be an old funeral home, is superb.  

There are some hamfisted efforts to make this a "message" film which does detract a little bit toward the end, especially since the point is made throughout most of the movie without resorting to making it too blatant.  Besides that this is a great '90s horror, as well as a new beginning that would see Craven release a number of more consistently good films than he had before. 

The People Under the Stairs (1991)

Time: 102 minutes

Starring: Brandon Quintin Adams, Everett McGill, Wendy Robie, A.J. Langer, Sean Whalen, Ving Rhames

Director: Wes Craven