THE PEOPLE UNDER THE STAIRS

Look, I don’t mean to dispute Wes Craven’s credentials as horror king. Early in his career he pulled off LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT and THE HILLS HAVE EYES. Not long after came A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET. But it dropped off pretty fast from there, with one lame effort after another – from the misbegotten sequel to HILLS to the inexcusable SHOCKER. Then, Wes read a story about a California couple who kept their children locked in the basement and decided to write THE PEOPLE UNDER THE STAIRS. To be fair, anyone would have a tough time coming up with a full-length feature film based on that one concept. But Wes Craven, despite a fair amount of tripe in his career, is a pro so maybe he could pull it off. Wishful thinking.

The hero of the story is thirteen year-old Fool. Yes, that’s right, Fool (Brandon Adams) is his name. A young black kid living in tough circumstances in the ghetto, Fool’s mom is sick and the family is about to get evicted. Did I mention that he literally lives on the second floor of a crack house? As if you didn’t know that times were tough for him, I was half-expecting someone to kick him in the head with an iron boot. It comes as no surprise, then, that Fool would be susceptible to the influence of Leroy (Ving Rhames), a ne’er-do-well who convinces him to join his scheme to rob their slumlord’s house.

It doesn’t take long for Fool to enter the home, a home run by a very tightly wound couple – played by Everett McGill and Wendy Robie. If they look familiar as a couple, it is because they also played one on TWIN PEAKS. Speaking of TV vets, the couple’s sweet little daughter, Alice, was played by young AJ Langer – who would go on to star as the troublemaker Rayanne on MY SO CALLED LIFE. Alice quietly slips food and other vital essentials to a mysterious hand that keeps popping through her air vent. Could this be one of the people under the stairs? You’re sharp.

Leroy’s plot to rob the house quickly goes awry, and it’s quite clear that Mom and Dad are nut bags. Leroy and his partner end up ripped to shreds in the basement, while Fool is left to fend for himself in the house. He joins forces with Alice who desperately wants to protect her “siblings” locked away in the basement. Now, some of these kids may or may not be her literal siblings, while others may have been kidnapped from the neighborhood. Regardless, they’re apparently locked in the basement once they outgrow their childhoods in an attempt by Mom and Dad to preserve only perfect young children. At least I think that was about. I don’t know, it was convoluted even to me.

Anyhow, before long, Fool, Alice, and a mute kid named Roach from the basement play a game of cat and mouse with the parents as they run through halls, air vents, wall-spaces, secret passageways, so on and so forth. Things get kicked up a notch (copyright, Emeril Lagasse 1997) when Dad shows up toting a shotgun in a full body leather outfit a la The Gimp from PULP FICTION. To say this movie is random is putting it mildly. To its credit, these chase sequences are well filmed, with some good camera angles and movements. The problem was, the chasing began too early in the film and kept on going and going and going, quickly losing its momentum. In fact, the movie almost never leaves the house – and it’s just not interesting enough to hold our attention that long.

Things get even worse for the grand finale, which has people crashing through floors and leaping up through stairwells at the exact right moment, a buried treasure, and the people of the ghetto banding together to take on Mom and Dad. I recently watched Wes Craven’s RED EYE – and though not a great film, it was tightly plotted and efficiently made. So it’s hard to imagine the same man is responsible for THE PEOPLE UNDER THE STAIRS – a cumbersome, meandering, film whose horror elements are far and few between. With minimal-to-no gore, terror, nudity or suspense, THE PEOPLE UNDER THE STAIRS belongs locked away in the basement with the other children.

RATING: * and a half (out of four)

Comments

[Neth]

Congratulations. You have spectacularly missed the point of this movie by a country mile.

[Dan]

So, give us your take on it.

[Istvan]

Well, I agree with the review. Chase scenes are just not fun after a while. And even unknowingly, I was strongly reminded of David Lynch. We could see these ideas even in Tarantino movies, but they never made it longer than a few scenes. It's definitely not worth feature length.

[John Johnson]

I watched this movie last night and I thought it was amazing!!!! Yea the Chase scenes are pretty long and sometimes even monotonousness it was interesting the whole way through and kept my attention.

[metin2 yang]

definitely not worth feature length.

[MBT dame Sandaler]

the only difference is the price!! Highly recommended site for EVERYTHING!

[Mac Keylogger]

First time here, happy. It’s always my pleasure to read this type of stuff. Thank you for taking the time to share with it, and this blog is very nice. I’m still waiting for more interesting thoughts from your side in your next post. Have a nice day!

[family keylogger]

Thanks for sharing. And I agree that the movie almost never leaves the house and it’s just not interesting enough to hold our attention that long.