The People Under The Stairs (1991) Full Review

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00:00hey everyone welcome back to another cult movie review with me Beau here on the film scene

00:19investigation channel thanks so much for checking out the review in today's video

00:25i'm going to be reviewing the 1991 wes craven film the people under the stairs before we get into it

00:35guys if you haven't already please do consider subscribing to the channel all the support is

00:41greatly appreciated so the people under the stairs was directed by the legendary wes craven

00:50and was released back in 1991 starring actor fing rames and child actor brandon adams the movie was

01:01loosely based on a real life incident that took place back in the 1970s now this is a movie that

01:10i saw many years ago when i was a kid i believe it was shown late one night on the bbc

01:19as i've mentioned before if i ever wanted to watch any kind of horror films things like that

01:27yeah the only option i had really was to watch it on tv usually i'd stay up late without my

01:36parents knowing even on a school night and uh yeah i'd just catch you know whatever was being shown on

01:44tv and one night the people under the stairs was broadcast now at the time i was getting into horror

01:53films and genre films and i wasn't really too aware of any specific directors from the friday the 13th

02:04franchise to films like halloween or scream it was all new to me so a lot of stuff kind of went over my

02:13head it was only years later did i actually find out that wes craven the creator of a nightmare on elm

02:22street and the screen franchise was the man behind this film so when it comes to the film's narrative

02:31it followed this 13 year old boy called fool who was played by actor brandon adams he lived in this

02:40really shabby run-down apartment block with his sister and his sick mother who was in need of an

02:50operation they were the last family left inside the building and the wealthy landlords that owned it

02:59wanted them out so they could start redeveloping they were already struggling and with the rent increases

03:07it was just a matter of time before fool and his family were on the streets the character leroy who

03:16was played by actor vin rames suggested to fool that he should get involved with robbery that was going

03:24down soon leroy who was dating full sister at the time planned to steal some valuable coins from their

03:31landlords the robesons and exchange them for cash if successful all of falls money issues would suddenly

03:41be solved and he would be able to contribute to his mother's medical bills leroy explained that their

03:49landlords they were wealthy the robesons you know weren't in desperate need they weren't struggling like

03:56fool and his family were and came to this justification that it was okay to steal from them fool quite rightly had

04:09reservations about the robbery but the opportunity seemed just too good to pass up

04:17but while leroy appeared to be helping matters he was simply just using fool to advance his own gains

04:29i mean a fully grown man willing to take a child to an armed robbery clearly has some issues

04:38the next day fool leroy and his associate spencer set off to steal the coins their first objective

04:48was to get inside the house where the coins were located so spencer who was played by actor jeremy

04:55roberts decided to pose as a gas worker and requested to see the meter inside the house once inside spencer

05:05would then be able to scope out the house check for any alarms or any escape routes mrs robson who was

05:14played by actress wendy robbie begrudgingly let spencer into the house to check the meter initially she was

05:24very reluctant to let anyone inside the house but eventually she relented and spencer went in

05:32after a short while mr and mrs robeson were seen leaving the house leaving spencer inside so after

05:41waiting around leroy and fool decided to break into the house themselves to see what was going on the two

05:49eventually split up with leroy going upstairs and fool going down to the basement where he eventually saw

05:57spencer's dead body he was on the floor unresponsive he had been murdered but what was even more messed

06:07up was the fact that there were a group of imprisoned children locked up inside a pen right next to the

06:15body these people these prisoners were unable to communicate properly but it seemed like they'd been

06:24down there for some time and were in need of some desperate help i mean fool had not just stumbled

06:32upon spencer's dead body but he had come across this makeshift prison inside the downstairs basement

06:41the robesons would then return to the house only to find leroy's van parked outside

06:48and immediately got suspicious fall and leroy were about to be captured so they decided to escape

06:56the downside for them was that all the windows were locked from the inside the two were panicking

07:03trying to find a way out you had leroy you know kicking the window trying to break it open

07:09but there was no escape mr robeson who was played by actor everard mcgill would end up grabbing his gun

07:19and shooting leroy dead even though mr robeson's house was you know getting burgled his response did seem

07:29a little excessive it seemed like mr robeson had zero intention of detaining intruders and every intention

07:39to kill them in cold blood so leroy was dead and fall was next on the chopping block but he managed to

07:49escape thanks to the help of alice the robeson's daughter played by aj langer she was a recluse she

08:00had no friends and was forbidden from ever leaving the house for any reason seeing the alice character

08:09suffer mental and physical abuse by the hands of her so-called parents was perhaps one of the

08:17darkest aspects of the film now child abuse is of course absolutely no laughing matter so seeing it all

08:28play out with alice getting manhandled like she did was very disturbing to watch

08:35the director wes craven succeeded in portraying the robesons as a pair of insane degenerates

08:45and i think some credit has to go to the actress who played alice because watching her you know you

08:52genuinely felt sad for the character and that was all down to the vulnerability the actress brought to

09:01the character i still remember when i was a kid and i saw this movie for the first time and saw the abuse

09:11that alice suffered and yeah that really did freak me out fortunately though the movie didn't really

09:19linger on the abuse angle too much another memorable moment i remember is the sequence where mr robeson

09:29was dressed up in this bdsm gimp costume storming around with a shotgun trying to find fool yeah we

09:39already knew that this guy was crazy but um yeah he took it to a whole new level this time i was never

09:46too sure as to why they dressed the character in this gimp costume i mean visually it looked kind of scary so

09:54that worked um but i'm not too sure if the filmmakers were hinting at some sexual tendencies that mr robeson

10:04had then again when it comes to bdsm it is kind of all about you know control and giving out orders

10:13so in that sense it worked now when it comes to performances i feel some praise has to go to the actor

10:22brandon adams for his role as fool while i didn't think adams was brilliant i did think he was passable

10:32and given his limited acting experience i thought he did a pretty decent job the only thing that kind of

10:41bothered me was that adams was or had an inability to show fear when fool was supposed to be scared

10:53i just didn't really believe it it came across as kind of too forced you know child actors can be

11:02pretty hit and miss at times especially if they're in the lead role but in this instance i thought adams

11:11did a pretty good job all things considered the talented ving rames who played the character leroy

11:19was a major highlight in this film and delivered a solid performance he brought some humor to his role

11:29and delivered some genuinely funny lines of dialogue one of the actor's best attributes is his comedy

11:37timing and that really showed here in this movie my only letdown about the whole leroy character

11:45was the fact that he was killed off so soon into the film now i understand that the kid was the main

11:53protagonist but i just found leroy to be so much more interesting when you had leroy and fool you know

12:03going around the house together i actually thought they you know made a pretty good pairing and that i

12:09think should have continued but once leroy was shot and killed the film definitely took a dip in quality

12:17and it's all dislikes for the people under the stairs from 1991

12:26my biggest dislike for the film would have to be the final act that saw fall return to the house and save alice

12:36now we had already seen the kid make his escape by jumping off the roof and to top it off he actually

12:44had the gold coins in his possession but after going back to the apartment to see his family fall then

12:53decided to return to the house and for me this was an overreach i mean fall was a 13 year old kid

13:03he wasn't some imposing figure so him returning to the house and putting his life in danger

13:12just seemed kind of ridiculous to me there was just absolutely no need for the filmmakers to

13:19then present fall as some sort of hero saving the day i know the character wanted to go back and save alice

13:29but really the final 15 minutes of this film was unnecessary uh it just did not make sense to me

13:38that a kid would go back i mean where he was where's his family weren't they stopping him huh well

13:46i know his mum's sick but what about his sister so yeah it just seems yeah kind of stupid really

13:52i don't know i don't know what they were thinking also i should also mention the final shot of the

14:00film which saw all of the robeson's money flying into the air you had all the poor people from the

14:07community you know grabbing all the dollar bills that they could get their hands on and uh yeah it just

14:14seemed kind of kind of hokey to me to make matters worse you then had this rap song called do the right

14:22thing that was being played out in the background people are grabbing all the money do the right thing

14:29nah man it just is so out of place for a horror film i did no terrible choice terrible choice of music

14:39for a mildly disturbing horror film this ending looked like you know something out of a comedy

14:48it really just was out of place and yeah i hated it you know don't get me wrong i don't mind a happy

14:57ending in fact i expected there to be one but the way it was executed just was so wrong it was just such

15:08the wrong tone and uh yeah luckily the film ended because i was going to switch off there and then

15:14anyway and so ratings for the people under the stairs from 1991 i'm going to be rating this movie a

15:253 out of 10. the people under the stairs was an enjoyable 90 minutes of horror adventure but having

15:34re-watched the movie again after so many years i can see why this is one of wes craven's more forgotten

15:44films it's a competent well-made horror film with an interesting concept but the film overall just kind of

15:55failed to deliver anything substantial it also seemed like the movie didn't really know what it wanted to be

16:04i mean combining horror with comedy yeah it didn't really mix too well and i personally would have

16:13preferred a straight-up horror film the performances were good and the house itself made for a very

16:23interesting backdrop but to be honest i just became more disinterested as the film went on especially after the

16:33leeroy character was killed off as i mentioned once fall was able to jump off the roof and escape the

16:42movie really should have just kind of wrapped up there and then everything else after that just seemed

16:47tagged on and uh yeah just very poor poor quality kind of stuff for everyone else who hasn't seen this

16:56movie yet i would loosely recommend it but by no means is this essential viewing and well that's all from me

17:08today guys thanks so much for checking out the video i really do appreciate all the support i've received so

17:12far i'll be back next week with another cult movie review don't forget to subscribe guys i really

17:19appreciate that and yeah i'll see you all next week

17:32so

17:48you

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