Disc Reviews

The People Under The Stairs Blu-ray Review

• 4th Nov 2013

Months after Arrow videos release of Deadly Blessing, the label returns with another freaky tale penned and directed by Wes Craven with The People Under the Stairs.

Not a film that people normally relate to when you mention Wes Craven, the man who brought great horror films to the big screen in the form of a Nightmare on Elm Street , the Hills Have Eyes and Scream. But it is one of his best offerings post ANOES and very underrated.

The People Under the Stairs is a clever mix of horror and humour with a great sub text of racism and classism in America, which will have you hiding behind your hands one minute and laughing nervously to yourself the next!

Wes Craven tells the story of a young male growing up in the ghetto called Fool, played by Brandon Quintin Adams (better known for his role in Michael Jacksons Moonwalker).

Fools mother is ill, their behind on their rent and are about to be evicted. A friend of the family Leroy (The totally awesome Ving Rhames) offers Fool a chance to make the money to pay the rent and a little payback on the people who want his family on the street. Rob the landlords of a rare gold coin collection hidden in their mansion.

When the attempted robbery goes horribly wrong, Fool is trapped in the house owned by the strange and slightly incestuous couple known only as Man and Woman, played absolutely brilliantly by Everett McGill (Twin Peaks, License to kill) and Wendy Robie (Twin Peaks, The Glimmer Man).

Trying to find his way out, Fool makes friends with a young girl in the house called Alice (A.J Langer) who helps aid his escape. On the run trying to escape the man in the gimp outfit armed with a shotgun and his ferocious dog in toe, it seems there may be more hiding in the house that Fool should be afraid of, because crawling through the walls of the house trying to find any exit to the outside world, he discovers he is not alone.

Once again Arrow Video has done their release justice by giving it one of the loving transfers to HD that the film rightly deserves and adding some of the finest extras to complete the package.

Fear, Freud and Class Warfare is a great interview with the man himself talking about the history of the People Under the Stairs and goes into how he came up with the idea for the film and beyond.

Behind Closed Doors interviews the leading lady (girl) A.J Langer as she remembers the film and her part in it.

Silent but Deadly interviews another of the films co-stars, Sean Whalen who plays the character Roach.

Underneath the floor boards is a view on the film and its impact on the creator of the Final Destination series with Jeffrey Reddick.

To top it all off, you also get the original trailer, Arrows collector booklet and reversible artwork sleeve.

The people under the stairs is available now on Arrow Video

Shane Meekings