PEOPLE UNDER THE STAIRS REVIEW

31 days of Halloween starts today bitches and the first movie on the list is “The People Under The Stairs.” 

From my research 1991 was a great ass year. 

Color Me Badd released “I wanna sex you up” they were a boy band who all looked like they either stock shelves at a Michaels craft store or walk dogs for a living in Manhattan and steal from divorcees. Other notable hits from 1991 were….

Jodeci Forever My Lady

Nirvana smells like team spirit 

Mint Condition breaking my heart

And last but not least a movie hit called “The People Under The Stairs”

This is an underrated classic in Wes Craven filmography. I used to watch this movie as a kid with my cousins over and over and it was the funniest to us. I guess we were sickos. 

Basically this movie is about gentrification. Greedy ugly ass racist white people who are landlords and they want to kick niggas out the hood and build condos. I am not exaggerating when I say these white people in this movie are ugly as fuck. I’m talking inbred hills have eyes ugly. Remember that episode of Courage the cowardly dog and that thing Eustace Bagg screamed at when it was on his porch? Yeah that kind of ugly. 

The main character Dexter aka “Fool” tries to rob the landlord crib for some gold with 2 old niggas and they get trapped in the house and discover that these mayo monsters got inbred humans living in the walls and basement of the house. These weirdos are also cannibals. 

You know what’s really real about this movie? Fool is the most mature person in the movie. He’s an adult. He’s forced to be an adult and that’s how it goes in the hood for young black boys. The cliche “You’re the man of the house” quote gets told to them and that’s what’s expected of them which is unfair. 

As the lead character in this film Brandon Adams he does an amazing job in putting the film on his back as a child and really leading the way. This movie is really the start of a crazy 3 film run he went on. People under the stairs, The Sandlot (My all time favorite film) and The Mighty Ducks. 3 straight classics. 

This film touches on a lot of topics. Child abuse, gentrification, racism, religious zealotry. Watching it as a grown ass man hits different. I’m not the biggest fan of remakes but I think this film should be remade by Jordan Peele. I think he would be the best at making a horror movie with those topics woven into the story. 

Ving Rhames was in this movie dressed like that blacker than black blickity black ass nigga from CB4. He had on that black history kufi but was living like he was thirsty to commit ppp loan scams. He was Melvin before meeting Jody momma in baby boy in this movie. Seeing him in this role was hilarious. 

The villains were really good in this movie because I hated the fuck outta those white people and they were extra freaky ass frogs. Why the fuck was this cracka hunting niggas in the house in a leather bondage suit? Hunting a cannibal child you created in your house in a gimp suit is some sicko shit. It’s beyond villainous. It’s down bad. Like in hell down bad. 

The wife might have been the first Karen I ever seen in my life. I will give them this, they provide the comedy relief in the movie really well. The fact they call each other mommy and daddy is funny. The husband always yelling random shit like he has Tourettes. They’re some weird ass villains. 

The house itself is on some Home Alone shit. There’s trap doors. Bulletproof and sound proof windows. A Rottweiler that never shuts the fuck up and eats humans. Cannibals in the basement that get fed humans by the owners. A daughter that is abused throughout the whole movie and has never seen outside before like me when any grand theft auto game comes out. 

Is this shit scary? No cause shit in the movie funny whether it’s intentional or not. There is gore and the parts with gore in it are kind of funny too. It’s a weird ridiculous goofy film with questionable acting but that’s the charm of it. For the time it came out in it was a bold move to make this film and a bit different for Wes Craven track record in my opinion. I’m thankful he made this bold ass movie. 

Love, Benny