The People Under the Stairs (1991)

Release date: 1991-11-01
Country: USA
Language: English
Director: Wes Craven
Production Co: Universal Pictures, Alive Films
Genre: Comedy, Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Rating: 6.4/10
Length: 1h 42min

Storyline

The People Under the Stairs is the story of a young boy (Fool) from the ghetto and takes place on his 13th birthday. In an attempted burglary (along with two others) of the home of his family's evil landlords, he becomes trapped inside their large suburban house and discovers the secret of the "children" that the insane brother and sister have been "rearing" under the stairs.

Plot Keywords

kidnapping, child abuse, nameless character, murder of a child, shotgun, cannibal, child protagonist, child in peril, killing an animal, robbery gone awry, trapped in a house, abused child, white dress, violence, brother sister relationship, cannibalism, death of child, father daughter relationship, mutilation, severed tongue

Short Review

A pretense of social responsibility and most of the necessary tension get lost in a combination of excessive gore and over-the-top perfs in The People Under the Stairs.