Review of The People Under the Stairs (1991) by Laura M — 21 Jun 2010

The People Under The Stairs is a strange little film that's both written and directed by horror legend Wes Craven, and marketed as a comedy horror film, but in reality it's neither horror nor comedy due it not being funny and containing very little in the way of horror. Yes it has horror elements, and the ludicrous nature of the antagonists could be considered strange enough to be comedy, but it's essentially a light hearted survival film that's too silly to be frightening and not funny enough to be comedy.

A young boy and his mother are about to evicted from their house by a ruthless landlord, which leads to the boy being coerced into breaking into the landlord's house in order to steal a coin collection he is rumoured to possess. Unfortunately for the boy and his two dim witted accomplices, the landlord and his wife are a truly demented couple who like to kidnap anyone who enters there house, cut off their tongues and imprison them in their basement under the stairs. They live by the mantra that once you enter their house, you will never leave again. The couple also has a daughter who has never seen the light of day, and after his two accomplices are killed off, the boy must team up with the daughter and the people under the stairs to escape from the hellish house.

It's actually a great premise for a horror film but Craven decided to shoot it with such a light hearted tone that any potential scares are nullified by the silliness of it all. This in no way means that The People Under The Stairs is a bad film, in fact it's a very entertaining one with plenty of action and a wonderful array of zany characters, but you can't help by disappointed due to the film being incorrectly labeled as a horror comedy. It's basically a cheesy film with two wonderfully over the top villains, some great sets, plenty of action and some fun set pieces that provide some brainless entertainment.

Wes Craven has created a fun film that's nothing special but is unique enough to entertain throughout. Don't expect lots comedy horror action though, there is action but no scares and the comedy is few and far between.