101 Fairytales Rolled Into One...With A Dash Of Cannibalism, Murder, Incest and Psychotism! (The People Under The Stairs (DVD))

Member Name: wampyrii

Product:	The People Under The Stairs (DVD)
Date:	15/07/01 (60 review reads)
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Wes Craven is one of the horror genre's more intelligent and influential directors but even so has had a pretty hit and miss career. For all of his good work there is something equally bad to match so you are never really too sure when coming across one you have never heard of before what exactly you are going to get. It was then with some suspicion that I rented The People Under The Stairs a few weeks ago, but having read good reviews of it I was willing to give it a try...

...and it turns out to be pretty damn good!

The story revolves around the central character of Fool(Brandon Adams), a 13 year old child with adult problems. His teenage sister has children, his mum has cancer and they have no money which means that unless someone comes up with cash fast by midnight the next day they will all be turfed out onto the street. However, his sister's boyfriend has a plan - a treasure map which will lead to a stash of gold coins within the house of their landlord...but they get far more than they bargained for when they become trapped inside the house and are hunted down by its psychotic owners. Things take an even more bizarre turn when Fool finds that there are children living in the walls of the building and people under the stairs, who have been kidnapped by the couple and kept there - many having gone completely cannibalistic and insane. The pair end up retreating amongst these poor souls to save their skins as they try to escape the fortress-like house...

Yes...I know...open wide and swallow some of the most enormous plot holes you can possibly think of, but trust me this movie works. It is an urban fairytale more than it s a horror movie, packed with Wes Craven's usual dark comic style and an underlying essence of class-struggle which pervades most of his movies in some form or other. Expect lots of fairytale elements to be thrown in here. Fool is our hero, come to save the oppressed ghetto from the wicked landlords. Along t
he way he must also rescue the fair maiden from her wicked step-parents(who also happens to be named Alice in an unlikely coincidence) and find the hidden treasure to save the day! Ths movie has all the necesasary incredients - adventure, danger, monsters and a happy ending? well you'll just have to watch and see...

As I mentioned, the movie is literally riddled with holes and so many things are left unexplained but no doubt by giving it a fairy tale feel, Craven felt that it would be ok to do so. Well, in some aspects he is right, as it is pretty easy to lose yourself in the movie and not care too much about just how implausible the whole thing really is. The action is good and somewhat relentless as the pursuit through the house never really lets up and the special effects good to match what little gore there actually is in this movie. Best still, is that this is actually quite well acted for a change, something which the horror genre tends to overlook as being an essential element of a good movie in far too many cases. Admittedly, Wes Craven is quite often not guilty of this over-sight, but its still worth mentioning.

Some have mentioned that this movie is a critique of American society, with the poor black family being screwed over by the rich white folks etc. etc. but I'll leave you to decide that when you watch the movie because you, like me, will probably not care at all about any of that. Suffice to say that it is one of the more intelligent horror movies out there, as with most of Wes Craven's work.

As a piece of entertainment, The People Under The Stairs is a great way to waste an hour or so, being both fast paced and darkly comic with some great characters. No doubt not to everyone's taste again and certainly not one of Craven's best movies, but still enormous fun and well worth a rental if you like this kind of thing.

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