Rating: 
Summary: Weird/campy/funny horror tale
Review: This film was written and directed by master horror director Wes Craven. In it Dexter, who friends call Fool, lives in poverty, with his sick mother. A few of his older "friends" tell him the only way they can get some money is to steal it. So he goes with them to a house of two rich people who own all the homes in the ghetto where Dexter lives. But when they arrive they find out how sick these two are. The house has a full lock and electrical system to trap them inside. There have been dozens of people trapped inside for a long time. They are kept under the stairs. Can Dexter survive, and save the young girl Alice, as well as the people under the stairs? This film reminds me a lot of Texas Chainsaw Massacre, as how people come to a house, only to be met by a crazy murderous family. While Texas is more serious, and scarier, this film is very campy, and has a lot of funny moments. Wes Craven surely knows how to direct a horror film, as he does here. If your a fan of horror, or camp, I'd recommend this. You should definitely watch with friends, as you will be laughing a lot. To most other people, who are annoyed by B movies, don't watch this. 4 stars because the direction is great, and there are a lot of funny moments, as a lot of the stuff in this film is kinda unrealistic.
Rating: 
Summary: The best horror film by Wes Craven, unless there is a sequel
Review: A 13yr old Boy and some of his sisters, boyfriends break into the landlords house, because they have jacked up the price of the payments to the apartments they live in. Only to find out that nobody has ever succesfully gotten out of the house. After discovering the horrors, and secrets of the house, the boy comes across other problems, a huge rotweiller, a crazy husband who dresses in all black leather with a shotgun shooting at the walls, people trapped in the cell of the basement, an abused girl, and a crazy mother, he fights for his life to escape and to rescue the abused girl. The Best Movie you can with a group of friends.
Rating:
Summary: Typical pre-Scream Craven horror
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: Totally Underated....Awesome movie....weak dvd though!
Review: 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!
Rating:
Summary: Great, but comedy holds it from being a total scare fest
Review: 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
Rating: 
Summary: A Poor Effort by a Horror Master
Review: "Fool," (Brandon Adams) as he's known by his friends, isn't exactly living "the good life" with his ill mother who can't pay the rent. When one of the family friends decides to pull off a Robin Hood stunt, stealing from a local wealthy family to give to the poor (namely themselves), Fool sees this as a quick solution to his family's problems. However, Fool and his friends find that this is by no means an "ordinary" family, and succeeding in their task will be more difficult than they had imagined. This family has a dark secret that they have kept for quite some time now. They have a hungry horde of cannibalistic boys locked in their basement, strange torture and security devices throughout the house, and an evil man-eating dog patrolling the house. The twisted wealthy owners of the house (Everett McGill and Wendy Robie) lock Fool in their home and are out for blood. Fool must trust one girl, Alice (A.J. Langer), living in the house, in addition to one of these ill-treated boys in order to attempt his escape. This was a seemingly interesting premise that was executed poorly. The plot was severely lacking, and the poor acting certainly didn't help. The odd couple housing the boys in their basement become particularly irritating. I understand that some of their actions were meant to be seen as humorous (...), but it wasn't pulled off very well. All characters, with the one exception of Fool, were severely under-developed. In addition, much of this film was extremely cliche. For example, the wealthy couple who owns the home is approached by the police one night. When they bring out hors deouvres and drinks for their interrogators, all seems forgotten and the police indulge themselves and then leave. How could this nice, polite, high-society couple be involved in anything questionable? Furthermore, why exactly these people have boys living under their stairs is never fully explained, they are merely there. Buy this movie only if you are a huge Wes Craven fan, but otherwise leave it for a lonesome Friday night rental. I have always been one to enjoy a great horror film, but this is definitely not one of them.
Rating:
Summary: Totally Underated....Awesome movie....weak dvd though!
Review: 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!
Rating: 
Summary: good entertainment
Review: "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.
Rating:
Summary: Alice In Horrorland...
Review: 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...
Rating:
Summary: "Don't Bruise Her Face...."
Review: I have been on a Wes Craven kick here recently. After having re-read the book on his career, I have started to pull out the old tapes I have of some of his films and re-watched them, after reading about them again in the "Screams And Nightmares" book. I originally saw this film when it was released in theaters in 1991, and saw only a few times since then. After re-discovering this film and seeing it for the first time in years and as an adult, I can honestly say that it was a nice surprise. The movie is a lot better and more fun than I remembered. This effort from Craven harkens back to his earlier 70's work like "The Last House On The Left" and "The Hills Have Eyes", mainly because it's a little seedier, darker, and more brutal than other stuff he has done in the 80's and today. Craven also wrote the script and it's a pretty tight and convincing tale he has weaved. The movie centers around a young boy of 13 named Fool(Brandon Adams),who is worried about the financial and living situation of his pverty stricken family who live in the slums in the ghetto. To make matters worse, the family's rent is due and his mother is very ill. To help his family, he agrees to go with his sister's boyfriend(played by Ving Rhames in a very early role),to attempt to rob the very wealthy landlords of the building they live in. The landlords are people who are only referred to as Man(Everett McGill), and Woman(Wendy Robie). Two very creepy and obviously unstable people. Once Fool and Ving are in the house, they quickly learn that once you get in, you aren't getting out. This sets off the real terror and fun of the film. Young Fool is stuck in these people's house of horror that come with booby traps, secret panels, hideaways, torture devices, a killer dog, and some really interesting occupants under the stairs. Who are they and what exactly is their story?. Well, I will let you find out when you see the film. All watched over by the deranged couple who call themselves "Mommy" and "Daddy". A.J. Langer, who plays their daughter was in
"My So Called Life" and "Three Sisters". She co-stars in the film as Alice, the unfortunate daughter of the loony couple locked up in the house and mistreated. This may be one of Craven's best and most overlooked films. The world he has created under the roof and within the halls of this house and thr story of the man and woman, is frighteningly real. He makes it seem as if you are in the house yourself running for your life and trying to get out. The details and the photography is so vivid and engrossing, it really makes it one of Wes' biggest audience participation type films. McGill and Robie are a sight to behold. McGill, known for baddie roles in films like "Licence To Kill" and "Under Siege 2", really makes a three dimensional character out of his role of "Man". Same goes with Robie in her role of "Woman". She really makes this lady cold and evil. They are a lot of fun to watch. I also heard rumors years ago that Wendy Robie was actually a man. I never thought much of it, but after seeing the film recently, I can see it. It may not be true, but I heard a rumor. See for yourself and come to your own conclusions. Brandon Adams is also a talented young kid who, like everyone else in the film, makes his character real. He was quite good. The films has a great balanc of dark and peverse humor that fits well. The movie also, and obviously, was hitting on some issues like the big man beating down the little people and the little people taking a stand. As well as how normal looking houses in nice, normal looking neighborhoods can sometimes house the most horiffic things that nobody would ever think. Wes did a really nice job with the characterization with this film, and it is one of the tighest films he has directed. It's not a classic, but it's a lost little film that sets out to do a job and gets the job done.
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