Race Conscious Horror Flick "The People Under the Stairs"

When I was a kid I used to have this reoccurring nightmare where I was in an old, dilapidated house by myself. Walking carefully along the cobweb laden hallway an arm would reach from somewhere low in the wall, grabbing my ankle. The rest of the dream would be me fruitlessly trying to escape the hellish home pursed by the thing in the wall. The only way I ever did was to wake up.

It's not something I've thought of in years. Not until recently at least. Not until I watched Wes Craven's The People Under the Stairs. Of course, the plot of this film comes from Craven's own dreams. That, coupled with a real news story of a family that kept their children locked in the basement.


The film is a rare example of a horror flick with an African American protagonist. The People Under the Stairs explores the dichotomy between the affluent and the poverty-stricken, particularly minding the racial disparity between the two. The white Robesons own a number of predominately black low-income housing, which they plan to tear down and make into office buildings. And it's not that they just don't care about the people they are displacing, they actually despise them. Even to the point of seeing them as subhuman. So racism and class warfare permeate this peculiar movie.

The portrayal of the Robesons comes off the back of '80s Reaganomics and steps into '90s Bush Sr. territory. To remind us of this, at one point Fool moves a television to see footage of the Gulf War while in the basement of the house.

They're rich capitalists benefiting from the suffering of the impoverished. On top of that, they're hypocritical Christians with falsely obedient so-called children and very defined gender roles within their twisted family unit.

The costuming and set dressing paint a picture of people who have trapped themselves within the '40s or '50s. It's like Norman Rockwell gone horribly awry as we see daughter Alice timidly giving Daddy his supper of bloody buckshot-filled meat while Mommy sews by the fire.

On the wall of Alice's bedroom hangs the phrase, "Children should be seen and not heard." Also touted is "See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil."

Mommy and Daddy are controlling, abusive murderers with little regard for their children. Their supposed love is conditional, relying only on whether their kids are subservient. Those that disobeyed were mutilated and cast out, trapped in the basement of the house. It's worth noting that the Robesons care far more for the family dog Prince than they do for any of their children.

Up against them is our protagonist 13-year-old Poindexter "Fool" Williams. Although he plans to steal from the Robesons, his intentions are pure. With a sick mother and a family in need of support Fool has to find a way to keep them in their home. Fool is selfless and heroic, driven by love. He has a keen sense of right and wrong, making him the polar opposite of Mommy and Daddy.

Despite its dark subject matter, tonally The People Under the Stairs can be pretty comical. While the Robesons are certainly sinister they walk a fine line between scary and slapstick. Particularly Daddy, who is goofily gleeful despite his general ineptitude. Everett McGill and Wendy Robie, reunited again after their stint together as husband and wife on Twin Peaks, are completely wonderful in their performances. Also worth noting is Sean Whalen as Roach, one of the aforementioned people under the stairs.

All and all, I found The People Under the Stairs to be enjoyable. While it's not my favourite of Craven's fare it still will hold a cherished spot in my film collection. Undoubtably I feel this will be one of those films that becomes better with each rewatch.

Personally, I can't wait to unleash this strange beast of a movie on my unsuspecting friends.