People Under The Stairs, The

Released by: Shout! Factory
Released on: August 11th, 2015.
Director: Wes Craven
Cast: Everett McGill, Wendy Robie, Ving Rhames, Brandon Adams
Year: 1991
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The Movie:

Written and directed by Wes Craven, 1991's The People Under The Stairs stars Brandon Adams as a kid named fool. His family doesn't have much money and in a strange turn of events, he winds up riding shotgun with Leroy (Ving Rhames) and Roach (Sean Whalen), two crooks bound and determined to rob the home of an eccentric wealthy couple (Everett McGill and Wendy Robie) who own most of the property in the low income neighborhood. Fool goes along with this not because he's a bad kid but because he figures he can use the money to pay for the operation his ailing mother needs.

It takes a bit of time but eventually they make their way into the house, which used to be an old funeral home decades ago. What neither of them realize is that the couple that owns the house are insane and that they've not only got their daughter, Alice (A. J. Langer), locked up in the house but a few dozen more young people jailed in their basement. Once Fool realizes this, he decides that he has to save Alice, but then he gets spotted.

The People Under The Stairs is nuts. It's not always on target but when you've got Everett McGill and Wendy Robie, best known as Big Ed and Nadine Hurley from Twin Peaks, on the screen its gold. Put McGill into a leather gimp suit and give him a shotgun and the movie goes from gold to platinum. He lumbers about with his pump action blasting holes into walls trying to find Fool, far more nimble and quick than he and therefore better suited to navigating the nooks, crannies and passageways of the house and it's a kick to watch. Robie, as the more dominant of the two, plays the 'queen bitch' character well and McGill's more submissive character seem to be just pleased as can be with that side of their relationship. This twisted manner in which the two central antagonists relate to each other perversely amusing and a big part of what makes this picture as entertaining as it is.

There's a problem with the film though - for a horror picture it just isn't scary. Granted, Craven went into this one knowing full well that the darkly comedic elements were an important part of what he was trying to do here but the outrageousness of certain scenes easily overshadows what should be a rather chilling part of the picture: child abuse. Obviously the film condemns it, as it should, but Alice's character isn't really given much to do outside of looking and acting afraid and as to the titular people under the stairs? They're eerie looking, years away from the sun having taken their toll on them, but they're nothing more than weird background characters. Suspense is derived in the scenes where Fool, and earlier Leory and Roach, are going about their business before the home's owners return, but nothing lasting.

The metaphorical politics of the film (which Craven discusses on his commentary) also get lost here. What should be a story of the have's against the have nots instead turns into a kinky chase film and in that process, whatever message should have been there vaporizes. That said, yeah, this enough gimped out McGill running around hooting and hollering and enough weird Wendy Robie playing mommy to him that you can't help but be entertained by it. Ving Rhames is fun to watch in his supporting role and Brandon Adams is pretty solid here as the lead kid.

The People Under The Stairs isn't a perfect film, not by a long shot, but it's a fun watch even if it's also a bit of a missed opportunity.

Video/Audio/Extras:

The People Under The Stairs arrives on Blu-ray from Shout! Factory properly framed at 1.85.1 in an AVC encoded 1080p high definition transfer. This is a step up from the DVD to be sure but it's not as highlight detailed as some are going to have hoped for, indicating that maybe an older master was used here. That said, the image is clean and colors look about as good as can be expected given how much of the film takes place inside a dimly lit house. Skin tones are fine and black levels are good and there aren't any problems with heavy compression artifacts even if a few minor ones pop up. Some DNR looks to have been applied here and there, further hurting fine detail in the process. This won't blow you away.

Audio options are provided in English language DTS-HD tracks in a newly remixed 5.1 option and the original 2.0 Stereo with subtitles available English. The stereo track sounds better here, as the 5.1 mix, while playful and featuring decent directionality at times, sounds a little thin. Regardless of which option you go for, levels are well balanced, dialogue is clean and clear and there's a reasonable amount of depth. Those who want surround mixes for older movies get what they want here, while purists will probably opt for the stereo track. It's never a bad thing to have a choice.

There are a LOT of extras on this release, starting with an audio commentary with writer/director Wes Craven and moderator Michael Felsher. This is a solid track, the two have a good balance here with Felsher letting Craven do the talking but at the same time, prodding him with interesting questions during those moments where he clams up a bit. Craven talks about where his ideas came from for this movie, the casting choices, building the sets and creating the house and quite a bit more. It's interesting and honest. A second commentary features cast members Brandon Adams, A.J. Langer, Sean Whalen, and Yan Birch. This one starts off reasonably well as they all seem keen to talk about their experiences working on the picture but not too long after it gets rolling, it starts to wobble into dicey territory with the participants simply narrating for us what we can clearly see is happening on screen or just clamming up all together. When it's on, and they talk about getting into character and working with Craven and the rest of the cast and crew, it's interesting but those moments are too sporadic.

Moving on to the featurettes we get a segment called House Mother which is a twenty-minute interview with actress Wendy Robie. This is a fun piece in which she talks about her famous role on Twin Peaks, working with Everett McGill again, and how she then segued into appearing in a series of horror films when the series ended. What Lies Beneath spends fifteen minutes on interviews with special make-up effects Artists Greg Nicotero, Howard Berger and Robert Kurtzman in which they talk up the different appliances and effects that they conjured up for this film, while House of Horrors is a sixteen minute interview with director of photography Sandi Sissel who talks about shooting the picture and some of the difficulties that entailed. Settling The Score lets composer Don Peake talk for ten minutes about his work on the music that's featured in the movie. We also get just under seven minutes of Behind-The-Scenes Footage here and a four minute EPK style vintage “Making Of” featurette.

Aside from that we get a theatrical trailer for the film, a few TV spots, a pretty large still gallery of storyboards and promotional materials, animated menus and chapter selection. Shout! Factory have also opted to offer some reversible cover art for this release, with the newly created art on one side and the original one sheet art on the other side. A cardboard slipcase is also included.

The Final Word:

The People Under The Stairs isn't the film that Wes Craven will be remembered for but it is pretty underrated compared to some of the other, more popular films that he's worked on over the years. It's also bat-shit crazy and a whole lot of fun. Shout Factory's Blu-ray offers a modest if never amazing upgrade in the video department but loads the disc up with extras, most of which are interesting and worthwhile.

Click on the images below for full sized Blu-ray screen caps!