The People Under the Stairs is a 1991 horror film directed by Wes Craven and starring Brandon Adams, Everett McGill, Wendy Robie, A. J. Langer, Ving Rhames and Sean Whalen.
Plot summary
The People Under the Stairs is the story of a young boy named Poindexter (Brandon Adams), whom everyone calls "Fool" because of a tarot card reading his older sister did for him, and lives in the ghetto of Los Angeles. At the start of the movie, Fool learns that he and his family have been evicted from their apartment by their cruel, bigoted, cannibalistic, religion-crazed, incestuous brother-and-sister landlords, the Robesons (Everett McGill as "Daddy" and Wendy Robie as "Mommy", whose given names are never revealed in the film), for being three days late on the rent. Fool's older sister, Ruby (Kelly Jo Minter), is dating a street thug named Leroy (Ving Rhames), who offers to help Fool take care of his family by planning a joint burglary of the Robesons' residence, rumored to contain a wealth of gold coins.
Fool agrees to join Leroy and his accomplice Spencer (Jeremy Roberts). He also starts hearing disturbing rumors about his former landlords. Grandfather Booker (Bill Cobbs) tells Fool that the Robesons' house used to be a funeral home, and adds that the Robeson family have been incestuously procreating for many years, becoming increasingly insane with each generation.
Eventually, the three boys decide that the best time for their burglary has arrived. They send Fool in, posing as a Boy Scout selling cookies, to try to scout the house out. After unsuccessfully asking to enter the house to use the bathroom he returns to the others. Then Spencer goes in, posing as a municipal worker, intending to scout the house out — but he never comes back out. Tired of waiting for Spencer, Fool and Leroy finally muster up enough courage to go in after him and break into the house together. Once inside, they are astonished at the interior: it is a mixture of inexplicably extreme security, old-fashioned décor, and sinister morbidity. The pair is pursued by a vicious dog and Fool ends up in the house's basement. Fool discovers the murdered body of Spencer, along with "People" corralled Under The Stairs like animals. While exploring, the Robesons return home, catching the intruders in the act. They shoot and kill Leroy and then begin dancing around his body while Fool hides and watches in terror.
While searching for an exit, Fool meets a young girl named Alice (A.J. Langer), the embodiment of innocence and purity. Alice tells Fool that her "parents" (the Robesons) searched for a long time for perfect children. She tells him that the only way to survive in the Robesons' world is to "hear no evil, see no evil, and speak no evil." The "creatures" Fool had previously seen in the basement are boys whom the Robesons call the "people under the stairs" who have had their eyes cut out, their ears cut off, or their tongues torn out as punishment for breaking one of these rules. They are subsequently locked away forever in the celler, fed scraps of human flesh from murdered people (such as Spencer and Leroy) who discover the Robesons' crimes of child abuse and kidnapping. One of these boys, a mute named Roach (Sean Whalen), previously managed to find a way out and has been hiding in the wall cavities ever since, becoming Alice's only friend. The Robesons refer to him as "the thing in the walls," and occasionally shoot at him with a shotgun.
Alice and Roach help Fool escape through the rafters and walls of the building. Unfortunately, Alice is left behind to be punished for her role in helping Fool escape, and Roach is killed (then set on fire by "Dad"), but not before giving Fool several gold coins and showing him the way out of the basement. Upon escaping, Fool promptly dials 9-1-1 from a public telephone and reports that child abuse is occurring at the home he has just escaped from. The police soon arrive at the Robesons' and are welcomed by an expert charade put on by the man and woman. Alice is kept hidden and the couple put forth the illusion of old-fashioned, strict, but very normal suburban living, even offering the officers coffee and cookies. The police, satisfied that no abuse is occurring, promptly leave.
Fool sneaks back into the house just before the police leave, to save Alice from her miserable existence. Anticipating Fool's return, the couple ambush him, but Fool manages to get to the attic and frees Alice. Some zombie-like "People Under the Stairs" manage to break loose from under the stairs and attack "Mom," who meets her end at Alice's hands. Fool is promptly met by the shotgun-toting "Dad," who is clad in a full leather BDSM suit, distraught at finding his (now mutilated) sister. Fool's plan, aided by the man's supply of explosives in the basement, eventually succeeds, and as "Dad" is blasted into (and out of) several walls (ending up dead in an open sewer), he and Alice escape with a dozen children who have been kept under the stairs.
And as for the collective money belonging to the bizarre couple, it is blown out of the house through the chimneys and soon is taken by a massive horde of people who had all been cheated of their money, as the People Under the Stairs flee into the night.
Cast
The People Under the Stairs was the second time McGill and Robie had been cast as a married couple, having earlier appeared as Ed and Nadine Hurley in the television series Twin Peaks.
Reception/Box Office
The film opened at the Number 1 spot at the box office, taking in over $5.5 million that weekend, and stayed into the top 10 for a month until early December.[1] The film went on to gross over $24.2 million Domestic (U.S) and over $7.1 million foreign, bringing it's worldwide total to just a little over $31.3 million dollars.[2]
Possible remake
After the release of the 2009 remake of The Last House on the Left, director Wes Craven has not mentioned The People Under The Stairs or Shocker, and the idea of a remake has been put aside.
On January 23, 2009, the sequel's Internet Movie Database (IMDB) page was removed. Possibly, the sequel has been put aside, due to Wes Craven's involvement in other projects. [3][4]
Attractions
- Universal Studios Florida also shows the film playing on the movie screen of the attraction Twister, just before the tornado rips the screen apart.
References
External links
