Movie Review: The People Under the Stairs (1991)

★★★★★

It’s a horror movie that makes you cheer, squirm, and think sometimes all in the same scene.

Lori S.

Georgia

When most people think of Wes Craven, they jump to A Nightmare on Elm Street or Scream. But tucked away in his filmography is The People Under the Stairs, a movie that’s as much a social commentary as it is a home-invasion horror.

As a reviewer for BoxReview.com, I’ve always loved how this one refuses to be neatly categorized. It’s scary, yes, but it’s also bizarrely funny, deeply weird, and surprisingly political for a film about cannibalistic basement dwellers. It’s the kind of movie you watch twice, once for the scares, and once to catch everything it’s actually saying.

The Premise: A Break-In Gone Very Wrong

Our main character is “Fool” (Brandon Adams), a street-smart kid from a poor Los Angeles neighborhood. After learning that his family’s cruel landlords are sitting on hidden riches, Fool joins two burglars to break into their massive, fortress-like house.

What starts as a simple heist quickly turns into a nightmare. The owners, credited only as “Man” (Everett McGill) and “Woman” (Wendy Robie), are unhinged sadists who keep their home booby-trapped and their “mistakes” (feral, mutilated children) locked in the basement. Fool must navigate secret passageways, avoid attack dogs, and survive the couple’s increasingly deranged attempts to capture him.

Brandon Adams: A Rare Child Protagonist in Horror

One thing that makes The People Under the Stairs stand out is its point of view. Fool isn’t a screaming victim; he’s resourceful, brave, and often smarter than the adults around him. Adams brings a believable mix of fear and determination to the role, which makes the audience root for him in a way most horror protagonists don’t get.

It’s rare for a horror movie to put this much on a young actor’s shoulders, but Adams carries it with ease.

Everett McGill and Wendy Robie: Twin Peaks Meets Grand Guignol

McGill and Robie (already known for playing a married couple on Twin Peaks) take their characters to theatrical extremes. The “Man” alternates between cold menace and full-blown maniac, often donning a leather gimp suit to stalk through the house with a shotgun. The “Woman” is equally chilling, prim, and motherly one moment, shrieking with rage the next.

What’s less discussed is how their performances tap into the grotesque exaggeration of fairy-tale villains. They’re like the witch and ogre from a bedtime story, only they’ve moved into a Reagan-era Los Angeles mansion.

The House as a Character

The house isn’t just a setting, it’s a labyrinth. Craven fills it with narrow crawlspaces, hidden doors, one-way mirrors, and walls that seem to close in on Fool. The geography of the house is disorienting, which makes the audience feel as trapped as the characters.

And then there’s the basement, home to the titular “people under the stairs,” pale, tongueless former children who were “punished” for breaking the couple’s twisted rules. The house becomes a physical manifestation of their control and cruelty.

The Real Horror: The Social Commentary

This is the part most reviews gloss over. The People Under the Stairs isn’t just a horror movie; it’s a blunt allegory about class, greed, and systemic oppression. The landlords are literal hoarders of wealth, keeping gold coins and piles of cash locked away while their tenants live in squalor.

The “people under the stairs” can be read as victims of a system that punishes nonconformity, while Fool represents resistance, someone willing to infiltrate the system to expose and dismantle it.

It’s no coincidence that the film came out in 1991, during a time of heightened discussion about urban poverty and predatory landlords. Craven wasn’t just telling a scary story; he was pointing a finger.

The Humor That Sneaks In

For all its darkness, The People Under the Stairs has moments of absurd comedy. Whether it’s the exaggerated bickering between Man and Woman or the slapstick chaos of their failed attempts to catch Fool, the humor is intentional.

It’s the kind of humor that makes the horror sharper, the laughs make you lower your guard, so when the next disturbing moment hits, it lands harder.

The “People” Themselves

One thing you might not expect: the people under the stairs aren’t the villains. They’re victims' children stolen away, tortured, and dehumanized until they’ve lost their voices. Their eventual role in the story flips the typical “monster in the basement” trope on its head.

Craven gives them a redemptive arc, allowing them to rise up against their captors in the film’s climax. It’s one of the most satisfying reversals in '90s horror.

Why The People Under the Stairs Still Works

While some of the early-90s style is unmistakable (big hair, bigger shoulder pads), the themes are still relevant. Greed, abuse of power, systemic inequality, sadly, those haven’t gone anywhere.

It also stands out in Craven’s filmography as one of his most original concepts. It doesn’t rely on a supernatural killer or a dream demon; the horror here is human, and that’s why it sticks with you.

Final Thoughts

The People Under the Stairs is part haunted house movie, part survival thriller, part political allegory, and somehow, it works. It’s strange, funny, disturbing, and deeply satisfying by the end.

If you’ve never seen it, go in knowing it’s not your standard horror flick. And if you have seen it, a rewatch might make you notice how much social bite it hides under its pulp-horror surface.