The People Under the Stairs

In a way, this movie is an unfocused mess. It tries to keep a lot of plates spinning: horror, humor (both slapstick and gallows), social commentary, and action, and sometimes, plates wobble and fall off. But there is a mesmerizing kinetic energy to this movie. A bizarre, off-kilter energy that is hard to turn away from, in large part because it doesn’t care if all the plates stay spinning, or if you notice. It is just going full steam ahead on its frankly whacked out plot. I admire the way it keeps throwing crazy stuff against the wall and leaving you thinking “okay, it’s gotta settle into its groove”, only to go “nope, NEXT CRAZY SHIT” and give you something like a guy in a leather gimp outfit. Never let it be said Wes Craven rests on his laurels either. This ain’t A Nightmare On Elm Street or The Hills Have Eyes or Shocker. One minute, it’s about the weird house on the block and burglars trying to find treasure in it to save someone from getting evicted. And then there’s feral humans in a basement. And the house has dozens of traps and the weirdest security measures. And the shotgun-wielding leather daddy. And, and, and, and. This movie is one big improv sequence where the orders are to never stop a sentence with any word other than “and”. Does everything in this movie make sense? No, but it isn’t trying to make sense. It is a grab bag of madness you’ll either like or you won’t. But either way, it shouldn’t be missed for horror fans.