The People Under the Stairs (1991)

Directed by

Wes Craven

Genre

comedy film, horror film, heist film, comedy horror film

Country

United States

Runtime

1h 42m

Rated

R

Rating

6.5 of 10 from 770 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

A young boy helps two adult burglars break into a creepy house to steal gold coins from the crooked landlords who own the neighborhood. Inside they discover a dark secret about the landlords and find something terrifying living under the stairs.

tensedarkly comicunsettlingfast-pacedcampyclaustrophobicsuspensefulsardonic

What happens

The People Under the Stairs is a 1991 American comedy horror film written and directed by Wes Craven, and starring Brandon Adams, Everett McGill, Wendy Robie, A. J. Langer and Ving Rhames. The plot follows a young boy and two adult robbers who become trapped in a house belonging to a neighborhood's crooked landlords after breaking in to steal their collection of gold coins as the boy learns a dark secret about them and what also lurks in their house. Craven has stated that The People Under the Stairs was partially inspired by a news story from the late 1970s, in which two burglars broke into a Los Angeles household, inadvertently causing the police to discover two children who had been locked away by their parents. The film was a surprise commercial success, and has been analyzed for its satirical depiction of gentrification, class warfare, and capitalism. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

Trailer

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