The People Under the Stairs
THE PEOPLE UNDER THE STAIRS (15)
D: Wes Craven
Universal/Alive (Marianne Maddalena & Stuart M.
Besser)
US 1991
102 mins
Horror
W: Wes Craven
DP: Sandi Sissel
Ed: James Coblenz & Tom Walls
Mus: Don Peake
Brandon Adams (Fool Williams), Everett McGill (Eldon
Robeson), Wendy Robie (Mrs. Robeson), A.J. Langer (Alice Robeson), Ving Rhames (Leroy), Kelly Jo Minter (Ruby)
Amongst horror director Wes Craven's better offerings,
the story follows a juvenile hoodlum who breaks into the creepy house in his neighbourhood to commit petty theft and discovers secret passages, a mistreated young girl and the dark secret
that the brother & sister who own it have a group of "children" trapped in their basement.
Relying more on unpleasantries than bloodshed and
cheap scares, it is creepily effective and atmospherically filmed.
6/10
