andyvanberkum I love this movie, first of all. I think it is delightfully creepy. A house in a regular old place, I imagine, with regular old folks living in it. But inside its walls is Roach and his pals, the People Under the Stairs. And two bros come in and they meet Alice and say, "Hey, baby, what's up?" Then those two psychos come in and throw Alice in the hot, hot water. Was this movie a Twin Peaks spin off that no one wants to admit to? WHO JUST SAID FOR OBVIOUS REASONS?! WHO SAID IT!!!!!!Roach is cool. "I don't give a (you know what,) he might say to his buddies, the People Under the Stairs." And they'd be like, "Damn right, Roach, we're getting out of this place." And the brothers come in and free them. It's a spooky film to watch this pumpkin popperific Halloween!

dworldeater My favorite film work by horror legend is The Serpent And The Rainbow. Besides that the film I am discussing here is the one I enjoy the most with exception to that. The People Under The Stairs is a bizarre, macabre horror film that is pretty original and well executed. Wes Craven blends a eclectic mix of disturbing horror, social commentary and fairy tales. While the film tends to be many things, the story makes a lot of sense in its context and remains a very cohesive and well done horror film. The People Under The Stairs is disturbing and action packed with heavy helpings of dark humor. This all works well under Craven's solid direction and the cast is excellent and helps bring Mr. Craven's vision to life. Young Brandon Adams is excellent as Fool and did a great job as the young lead in this film. Everett McGill and Wendy Robie were very convincing and completely insane as Man and Woman. Coming straight off of Twin Peaks, they had amazing chemistry and really went above and beyond to make these people seem real. Also, check out an early performance from Ving Rhames, he is great here as well. Overall, The People Under The Stairs is a great film, the more disturbing elements remind me of Flowers In The Attic, but really there is not anything quite like it.

atinder This was first watch, I never seen it before, I saw for £1 in shop, so I said what the hell it's £1, you go wrong with that. I heard a lot people saying this was really good horror movie, I was really looking forward to it. At the end of the movie , My words were, whoa that was one hell of a ride, one hell of crazy movie. I was on edge of seat the whole time of the movie, I don't even think I took eyes of screen for second. The movie flowed great nothing drag for to long, action scene didn't to long end and really enjoyed the movie came to end. I found the movie really tense at times but one think that did annoy me, is the last scene of the movie.All those people out side that house, never notice those strange looking people coming out the house. , That the only think that annoyed me in this movie. The great was great, that boy sure could Fight! I give this move 8 out of 10

thesar-2 Out of thousands of movies I've seen in the theatre, I've walked out of the theatre in disgust prior to the climax only three times. (Actually, one movie I actually walked out on TWICE, because after I initially walked out on the movie, Cadillac Man, my friends dragged me back to that movie at a later date. 20-minutes in, they agreed with me, and we all walked out.) The People Under the Stairs was one of the other two I walked out on and get this, it was literally 10-minutes before the end of the movie!I remember this movie vividly. Picture it: Phoenix, Arizona, 1991. I've always loved horror and since I loved Freddy so much, Wes Craven was high on my list. For a new and "original" film, this was a must see. Unfortunately, half way through, I thoroughly disliked this movie and by the time the movie got to almost the ending, I couldn't care any less on how it ended and I bolted. This has never happened to me before or since and of those three movies I exited early, I never made it this far and left early.Nowadays, I write a ton of film reviews, but I would never on a movie I didn't complete. It's unfair to the movie by not allowing it to fully explain itself. Rarely will a movie redeem itself in the last ten minutes, but it has happened, I recall.Fast forward, 22 years, and during October/Horroween time, I decided to *finally* give this movie another shot. I mean, why not? It's not like it's another 3-vested-hours of goofiness I have to endure; it's only 102 minutes and 10 of which I hadn't seen before.To be honest, I didn't hate on the movie that much this time. Sure, it's still bad, and though Craven was trying hard to be original, though failing some, it was so convoluted with way too much going on to enjoy. The basics of this movie was a creepy house and a trapped-inside boy trying to escape and eventually does, but *has* to go back for a captive girl living there.Literally, that's the core of this movie. There's roughly 23 other plots going on – and yeah, I know, I'm exaggerating, but not too far off, but breaking it down, the movie's somewhat focus is on the boy, a dog and the escape plan.One of the things I had a problem back in 1991 was Plot #17, the sadomasochism (S&M) "father" in leather. In my defense, I was in High School, living in a pre-internet age and was brought up in a very sheltered, Christian household, so I had no clue what S&M was or why this man decided it would be a good idea to disguise himself in full leather in his own home to continue to chase the boy.Today, knowing exactly what it is, and why…it still makes zero sense for him to do this. Previously, it's stated that "every generation more insane than the one before it" in this household. But, being crazy does not equate the desire to participate – in this case, unexplainably – in S&M.Now, here's the million dollar question, but mostly for myself: Should I have stayed for the final 10-minutes in 1991? And the answer is: No. I would've hated it all the more. The finale, and sorry – spoiler for the 22-year-old movie, involves blowing up a room full of cash and despite the grand explosion, the cash survives and intact and is distributed to the poor.The movie gets a little too out of whack, too many times. Reminded me a lot of The Evil Dead original, but for no solid reasons for it to mimic that movie. Also, the "message" felt like a Lethal Weapon unneeded addition to the already overloaded script. Totally: Not recommended to meet the people under the stairs.* * * Final thoughts: I was right. Back up, I was right to walk out on the movie, but I would've been more right not to see it in the first place.