The People Under The Stairs (DVD)

...mother has a cancer that the family cannot afford to treat. The boy’s name is Fool; he’s a studious boy who fantasises about becoming a doctor. However, when his sister’s boyfriend gives him an opportunity to steal a huge sum of money by breaking into the home of his rich white landlords, Fool reluctantly agrees. Definitely a big mistake. Once inside the house Fool gets sucked into a world that he could scarcely have imagined. Here live the unhinged ...
...maze, with secret passages in the walls and staircases that collapse at will. In one of the passageways Fool finds a young girl called Alice, the daughter of the household who has never been outside of the house. She is a sad, abused child who knows no reality beyond the four walls of what she calls home. Then there’s the reality that’s going on behind the walls and under the stairs. Fool finds himself caught up in a game of cat and mouse with the ... more

A young black boy from an urban ghetto has a big problem. It is his thirteenth birthday, his family is being thrown out of their home by their gluttonous landlords and his mother has a cancer that the family cannot afford to treat. The boy’s name is Fool; he’s a studious boy who fantasises about becoming a doctor. However, when his sister’s boyfriend gives him an opportunity to steal a huge sum of money by breaking into the home of his rich white landlords, Fool reluctantly agrees. Definitely a big mistake. Once inside the house Fool gets sucked into a world that he could scarcely have imagined. Here live the unhinged landlords, Man and Woman, who are both man and wife and brother and sister. Their house is built like a maze, with secret passages in the walls and staircases that collapse at will. In one of the passageways Fool finds a young girl called Alice, the daughter of the household who has never been outside of the house. She is a sad, abused child who knows no reality beyond the four walls of what she calls home. Then there’s the reality that’s going on behind the walls and under the stairs. Fool finds himself caught up in a game of cat and mouse with the deranged landlords. At every turn his attempts at escape are thwarted by the wicked duo. With the landlords getting closer and closer to catching him Fool desperately tries to escape because if he’s caught there’s no knowing what might happen.

‘The people under the stairs’ is at its heart an urban style fairy tale. Our brave hero, Fool must stand up to the heinous landlords (who are oppressing the ‘villagers’ in the ghetto), save the tormented princess Alice (who’s being tortured by the evil step-parents), and locate some money to save his own family. There is also a distinct Alice in Wonderland vibe to the film (which is probably why the girl is called Alice), a sort of ‘through the looking glass’ feel that takes effect as soon as Fool departs from the real world and enters the house. In a way it is these children’s story elements that make this film a lot more interesting than you would expect. In children’s tales logic is not often common place and this is something Wes Craven (Director) uses to his advantage. He is able to create improbable situations without having to allocate any time to how they came about.

In stark contrast to the dark feel of this film is the cinematography used to illustrate it. The colours used don’t really reflect Craven’s dark fairy tale aspect. Instead the film has very realistic tones and for me that really did detract from the overall feel of the film. The basement scenes were a particular disappointment and were far too heavily lit which meant that you could see into every nook and cranny. This took away some of the suspense of the situation and while there was still a distinct sense of danger it was definitely severely diminished. On the plus side though Craven does use some interesting camera angles in the film and his use of close ups gives us a great view of Fool’s fear as it grows throughout the film.

Performance wise, all of the actors do a pretty good job. Brandon Adams (Fool) performs well as the child lead and while at times he can be slightly nondescript, on the whole he’s tremendously skilled at bringing his character across. What was also nice about his character was that he wasn’t your typical stupid kid walking obliviously into all the dangerous situations. He tries his best to think logically and when he finds himself in dangerous situations he tries to figure out a solution rather than running haplessly into the arms of his pursuers. A.J.Langer also puts in a good performance as Alice, the unwanted daughter who wanders the house. As the abused child, she brings a nice realism to the film, giving a very withdrawn and sullen performance that slowly gets more defiant as the film progresses. Her performance slotted in nicely with the feel of the film and she was able to create an air of mystique which helped the film along. In the role of the wicked parents, Everitt McGill and Wendy Robie put in equally disturbing performances. They manage to be both terrifying and strangely amusing as the psychopathic Man and Woman. Although at times Craven does allow them to become a little too cartoon-like which detracts a little from their early menace.

There’s not a lot of gore in the film and what is shown is somewhat unconvincing. The special effects work isn’t exactly great and at points descends into the downright laughable. One of the character’s flayed carcass looks particularly unrealistic and there’s a chopped off hand that that is so clearly made of rubber that it’s almost embarrassing to look at. Where the film does work though is the set design and the way that the house is brought to life. Craven has created the ultimate horror/fun house, the huge gothic style residence that people would cross the street to avoid. The house is filled with secret passages and hidden doors and the overall feel of the house hints at the type of people who live there. The soundtrack was also pretty good, helping to enhance the feeling of fear surrounding the house. Don Peake made good use of a vast range of music from fast, frenzied pieces to quieter much more introspective sounds. While the soundtrack wasn't exactly ground breaking it helped to create certain moods and served to highlight the growing tension as the film progressed.

Behind the fairy tale veneer however, lies the social commentary that has become a big part of Wes Cravens lesser works. The contrast between the young, poor, and black Fool and the rich, white, deranged landlords highlights one of Craven’s most common themes, that of class struggle. This is handled very well throughout the film though and Craven does well not to overdo it and become bogged down with his ideas. What doesn’t work however is the ending, which is insulting, contrived and most definitely too long. At the risk of spoiling the film all I will say is that one of the characters ends up making a cringe worthy speech practically explaining the issues behind the film. It’s as if Craven really doesn’t want us to miss the point so he thought he’d better tell us one more time in an insultingly obvious way.

While no one is probably going to put the ‘People under the stairs’ forward as Wes Cravens greatest film, this is possibly one of the best of his lesser efforts. The performances on the whole are good and while the special effects aren’t exactly great they are good enough to make the film just about believable. The running time of 97 minutes is just about right. Long enough to allow the film to build slowly to a climax but could have done without the protracted ending that saw the film slowly die out rather than end on a high note. Taking into account both the good and bad points of this film I would just about recommend it. All things considered this is an entertaining film with enough action and suspense to keep you watching for the full hour and half.
 

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