Underrated Films - The People Under the Stairs Review

 

The People Under the Stairs is a 1991 horror comedy movie. The film was produced by Alive Films and distributed by Universal Pictures. The People Under the Stairs was written and directed by Wes Craven.

The story is Poindexter "Fool" Williams has just broken into the house of his family's greedy landlords. Fool attempts to escape but he finds himself trapped in there, now he must find a way out while trying to avoid the landlords, but the longer Fool stays in there, the more he discovers some dark secrets.

Why It's Underrated

The reason why the movie is underrated is quite simple, poor thing just doesn't get as much love as Wes Craven's other horror films, those being A Nightmare on Elm Street and Scream. And really that's all I need to tell you.

My Thoughts

Let's get this negative out of the way, and that's this movie is definitely outdated. After watching it it's a movie that's always gonna be seen as an early 90's film.

Now to tell you about the more positives aspects of the movie and that's you'll actually feel for Fool and his family. They're living in a horrible spot, they can't pay rent, and just to make matters worse, one of the family members has cancer. So you're really hoping him and his family can pull through in the end.

What also made The People Under the Stairs a good movie was The Robesons. They're pretty good horror villains. I would want to go into more detail about them, but it's best to see why actually their good villains.

Another thing that I'd liked about the film was the gory. There's not a lot of it but, when you do get that it's pretty gruesome. Great practical effect work from the special effects team by the way.

The last thing I'll give The People Under the Stairs credit for is the build up. This is what made Wes Craven such a great filmmaker before he sadly passed away. The guy really gives his horror films such great build up. Because of that slow build, the movie can get crazy here and there, and for that I think Craven for this.

The People Under the Stairs is a forgotten Wes Craven classic. It really made you feel for Fool, The Robesons were good horror villains, the movie can definitely get gory when it wants too, and there's great build up. The only downside is it's outdated.

My final rating is Great.

Okay that's going to do it for me. Come back on Thursday, Oct 14th for my Classic Film Night review of Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day.