The People Under the Stairs (1991)

A young boy named Fool (Brandon Quinton Adams) turns 13 and helps burglarise their nasty sibling landlords home with his sister's boyfriend Leroy (Ving Rhames) and Leroy's friend Spenser (Jeremy Roberts) to steal money in order to get Fool's mother to get treatment from dying of cancer as well as nearly being evicted from their run down apartment in the Ghetto by disguising themselves but when that fails they break into their home.
They realise that their landlords are psychopaths due to their greed with many boobytraps built around the house and kidnapped a bunch of people when they were kids and keeping them in their cellar with one girl that's trapped in their house named Alice (A.J. Langer) whom they say is their daughter as they mame and beat her.
Both Spencer and Leroy are killed by these two maniacs as Fool must try to escape himself and try to help the people they kidnapped out but it isn't too easy as he thinks due to the all the traps these wicked people have along with a vicious rottweiler they own that they feed body parts to.

This film was sick, twisted and rather pointless too but yet it's creepy thinking about these poor people living all their lives locked up in a cellar with two maniacs living in the house and abusing this poor girl as it seems like a real life hell.
You wonder if whoever is living in the walls or cellar are human or zombie's but we've seen this before folks as I found this to be Wes Craven's worst horror flick as he tries to make it funny as well as teisted but misses by a longshot.
There's good performance and direction which saves this film from bombing.

The acting is very good as we get a nice dynamic performance by young actor Brandon Quinton Adams showing everything he's got to his part. He was quite a character.
Everett Mc Gill was just plain whacked and kookie in his part as the evil one in the house as he was more evilly goofy than scary.
Wendy Robie on the other hand had great wicked features and knew how to come across as an insane one with her intensity and disturbed actions.
A.J. Langer was perfect with her frightened expressionless features and knew how to behave like she was scared of her own shadow like you'd want to protect her from these evil people. She does well by getting vengeful in the end too.
Ving Rhames shows nice attitude to his part in the film when he throws his weight around playing a good poor one in the hood.
Sean Whalen showed nice energy as the mute one living in the walls and under the stairs as he came across greatly with what he had in the film.
Kelly Jo Minter was one of the best cast members with her stright forward attitude and no nonsense behavior. I also enjoyed her in A Nightmare On Elm Street 5.

Some graphic gore here
There's a skeletal corpse with some blood and the odd torn flesh
A piece of a hand is fed to a dog
Someones flesh is torn off with guts being thrown and eaten
A pool of blood is on a floorway

Wes Craven knows how to make this film quite sick and twisted. There is a good camera shot on a table showing some fortune telling cards.
There's also a good dispute between Ving Rhames grabbing young Brandon Quinton Adams shirt and getting aggressive.
We also have a good twisted moment with Everett Mc Gill by a fireplace viciously eating some meat with the camera panning away and then a demented scene with Wendy Robie acting wicked.
There's also a good setting between Robie acting foreceful towards A.J. Langer while brushing her hair and demanding her to ask her if she loves her with a total evil attitude.
There's also a good shot on Langer looking tense by sitting in her chair as well as looking frightened when Robie gets evilly stern with her about after she ate and where her fork is.
A good shot on Mc Gill taking his belt off about to swack at her too and she does well getting scared.
There's a corny moment with Adams towards Robie making out he's a boyscout selling cookies and she just gets very strange which looked quite comedic.
We have a good look with Adams and Rhames trying to break into the house as it makes you cringe what is going to happen.
A great shocking moment with a rottweiler grabbing onto Rhames' arm.
There's a nice shot looking up on Adams from a staircase to a cellar on him walking down and getting scared. There's a nice shot on him walking down the stairs and a door shutting on him from behind.
Nice shots on the house showing windows and doors shutting and getting locked with Rhames running away with Adams.
A good reaction on Rhames when being shot along with a good shot on Mc Gill shooting him and acting crazy.
There's good fast shots on Sean Whalen grabbing Adams from a nearby wall and them running away in the hallways inside the wall with Mc Gill trying to shoot them and the rottweilwer on the chase.
Adams says his words greatly when he tells Langer that her parents are one sick mothers.
Langer does well when she talks to Adams with tears in her eyes when she reads out loud the words on a picture hanging on a wall "I do not see, or hear, or speak evil"
A good shot on Adams up in the cellar window and calling for Langer as she does well acting too scared to go outside.
There's perfect intensity with Robie smacking Langer around with Langer freaking out with great intense expressions as well as throwing her in a hot bath and acting insane which makes it hard to watch.
There's also a good shot on Mc Gill grabbing Langer on the bed acting forceful.
A good dialogue between Bill Cobbs with Adams when he tells him about those maniacs and their greed.
There's good moments with Adams fighting back against Mc Gill and Robie as he knew how to act tough.
A nice shot on a camera looking up a chimney which involved Adams and Langer looking down as well as them walking on the roof of their house.
A good shot on them sliding down the chimney too at full force.
Langer does a good job getting even towards Langer by acting forceful.
I loved Kelly Jo Minter pretending to be a solicitor at the door towards Langer and then speaking her mind to her with good bad ass attitude.
Robie is great by going crazy and screaming with a kitchen knife and chasing after Langer.
Langer does well standing still with icy expressions towards Robie telling her she is not her mother.
A good shot on the house with money flying in the air and the extras going wild.

There's some descent metal scraping sounds for the dark and fast action scene's along with some fast piano sounds with some screechy violin music.

Woman: You didn't lick this, did you?

Leroy: Just because a man's lying down doesn't mean he's dead!

Fool: Your father's one sick mother. Actually your mother is one sick mother too.

Alice: Mommy and Daddy wanted a boy, but every boy turned out bad. Some saw things they weren't supposed to see, some were caught trying to call for help, others talked back. Daddy cut out the bad parts, and put them in the basement... they get flashlights and food of some kind and I suppose they're happy in their own way.
Fool: Yeah right... so why haven't they put you in the basement?
Alice: I do not see, or hear, or speak evil.
[crying]
Alice: It's the only way.

[to his dog]
Man: Shut the FUCK up!

Woman: I don't want to see another cop or cookie in my life. I don't know which one makes me sicker.

Man: May they burn in hell.
Woman: Forever and ever in hell.

Woman: What's a mother to do? Lazy brat sits in her room all day, sewing dolls. Children misbehaving in the basement! And one in the wall, doing his business God knows where. You kids will be the death of me... the death of me.

Fool: They're not your real parents, Alice, they're not even husband and wife... they stole you, just like they stole Roach and all the others. They're just a bunch of rotten baby snatchers.
Alice: You're just saying that...
Fool: My grandfather Booker told me, he wouldn't lie to me.

Alice: He said he killed you!
Fool: He was exaggerating.

Alice: [to the woman] Go to hell!

Woman: You hurt your mother
Alice: You're not my mother... You never were

Fool: I feel like a million dollars