Review of The People Under the Stairs (1991) by Steven G — 02 Nov 2009

Just saw this movie at the amazing Dusk til Dawn Horrorthon in Santa Monica. This definitely has to be one of my favorite horror movies ever. I don't know how Wes Craven can so successfully turn up the amazing horror comedy campiness while simultaneously crafting a brilliant allegory/satire of the Reagan-Bush years. The real horror of this movie is the philosophy and consequences of trickle-down economics, and what better way to elucidate this point than making the scary killers rich, inbred, gentrifying realtors that built a house on top of imperfect boys that they trap under the stairs for life and hunt for fun! Compound that with taking the time to develop the characters and story and keep us engaged and rooting for the heroes all the way. I probably sound like a broken record, but this movie could definitely hold up with audiences today. Especially when the people take a stand outside the crazy realty family's house and take back what's owed to them.

I'm digressing, but I need to add that aside from all this seriousness this movie also has a lot of elements of a horror-comedy. The antagonist family are like Norman Bates meet a Rob Zombie character. They are way over-the-top in the best sense. Not to mention, the clever and funny dialogue between the sane characters. My introduction to Wes Craven has been weirder than I assume most people's has. I still have not seen Nightmare on Elm Street or Scream or Last House on the Left. But this film has thoroughly impressed me, even more so than The Hills Have Eyes, Cursed or New Nightmare (the other films of his I've seen), but just make me want to go out and rent his filmography right now.