A pre-Pulp Fiction Ving Rhames and a resourceful 13-year-old kid (Brandon Adams) break into the labyrinthine house of their landlord to steal a valuable coin collection – only to find themselves caught in a booby-trapped hellhole with the sicko brother and sister owners (Everett McGill and Wendy Robie) and a horde of imprisoned mutants.
The gigantic, gruesome house is cavernous and foreboding, crammed full of crawlspaces, archaic plumbing, ghoulish brickdust and crumbling plasterboard.
As with Nightmare On Elm Street, the story for The People Under The Stairs presented itself to director Wes Craven in the form of a newspaper article.
It makes for an inventive, sometimes disturbing comedy-horror that, at its best, recalls the early slapsticks of Raimi and Jackson.
There’s even a socio-economic message laid on thick like the make-up effects.
Fool
Brandon Adams
Man (Daddy)
Everett McGill
Woman (Mommy)
Wendy Robie
Alice
A.J. Langer
Leroy
Ving Rhames
Roach
Sean Whalen
Grandpa Booker
Bill Cobbs
Ruby Williams
Kelly Jo Minter
Spenser
Jeremy Roberts
Mary
Conni Marie Brazelton
Young Cop
Josh Coxx
Veteran Cop
John Hostetter
Police Sergeant
John Mahon
Social Worker
Teresa Velarde
Attic Cop
George R. Parker
Director
Wes Craven
