The People Under the Stairs

[Ali]

Makes me want to catch up on more Wes Craven. Just a fun and creepy movie. A bit overly 80'ish/early 90'ish, "suckas" are thrown out, kufis are worn (Ving Rhames out of nowhere!). But I loved how quickly the movie got you into the action, maybe 15 or 20 minutes in. Then it just keeps on giving you exciting set-pieces and gibbering boy rats. And props on the main kid they cast. Watchable and made you root for him as the very real sense of danger the movie provided kept on surrounding him. Seriously, kids are killed over the place during this flick.

So yeah, watch this movie. Especially for the *SPOILERS* magnificintly literal Marxist ending*SPOILERS*

[Erix]

Big fan. One of Craven's best and a really underrated flick. Lots of fun... Especially if you take it as a modern variation on Hansel & Gretel (a theme Craven would revisit in New Nightmare. But, in my opinion, the fairy tale aspects are better handled in this film.) The suspense and shocks really work. And the movie has a nice, twisted, almost Lynchian aesthetic. It's one of the few times I can think of that Craven is just being playful.

Everett McGill and Wendy Robie were fresh off Twin Peaks and they play delightful variations on their personas in that series.

McGill, in particular, is a great over-the-top comic book villain. He's a really underused character actor. And, watching this film, you really see that.

I hope we get a Special Edition of this sometime... It really deserves more love.

[agracru]

This is definitely a flick that doesn't seem to get the love that it deserves. It's a blast from start to finish, spooky and entertaining with a healthy dose of the weird. Seconded on the love for McGill and Robie, who here really up the creep factor by playing truly twisted persuasions of their Twin Peaks characters (as Erix already pointed out).

[Ali]

When I watched Mcgill stomping through the house, blasting away with a shotgun while in full domination costume, I knew this movie was a keeper. Just so much fun.

[Bancroft Agee]

Wes Craven's take on the fairy tale with a little sly social commentary thrown in for good measure. I love the twisted nightmare take on the traditional American family that Craven exploits for every last drop. Erix mentioned Lynch and while I won't go that far I will say that Craven (like Lynch) really played with using the family dynamic to say that everything may look normal but behind closed doors it's a literal hellish playpen of depravity and horror.

[LeRolls]

I remember trying to stay up one night when I was pretty young so I could watch this movie. To this day I still haven't seen it. I might have to remedy that soon.

[Erix]

Originally Posted by Bancroft Agee

Wes Craven's take on the fairy tale with a little sly social commentary thrown in for good measure. I love the twisted nightmare take on the traditional American family that Craven exploits for every last drop. Erix mentioned Lynch and while I won't go that far I will say that Craven (like Lynch) really played with using the family dynamic to say that everything may look normal but behind closed doors it's a literal hellish playpen of depravity and horror.

That's kind of what I was getting at. The fact that McGill and Robie "reprise" their Twin Peaks characters is what makes Lynch pop into my head, I guess. But, while the movie is certainly more accessible than anything (besides The Straight Story) in Lynch's ouvre, it's the most flat-out bizarre film Craven has done. Craven always comes off as a kind of classical workman. This is just a little off-center for him and that's one of the things I love about it.

I wish Craven had pushed himself more like with this film and the also underrated Serpent and the Rainbow.

[Nick Nunziata]

Hate Hate HATE this flick.

[MoonBaseNick]

I loved this movie when I was 12, I have yet to see it since.

[Dross]

I've always hated this and Serpent and the Rainbow. Extremely bland and boring films.

[Nick Nunziata]

OK, I dig Serpent. A lot.

[Evi]

My favourite Craven flick. I haven't seen Serpent, but this is the one time I've seen him do something truly out of left field - though Last House and The Hills Have Eyes were probably groundbreaking for their time.

[Dross]

Originally Posted by Nick Nunziata

OK, I dig Serpent. A lot.

Have you watched it lately? Hasn't aged well at all.

[JPL]

People works for me because of the Brothers Grimm vibe it gives off, A.J. Langer, and the character of Roach.

Ok, mainly due to Langer.