10 MORE Horror Movies Where The Monster Isn't The Villain

10. The People Under The Stairs

In The People Under the Stairs, poverty-stricken boy Fool teams up with two burglars to steal from the Robesons, a pair of oppressive landlords known as "Mommy" and "Daddy". 

When Fool investigates the Robeson house, he discovers cannibalistic children residing in the basement. And while Mommy and Daddy are scum, it's safe to assume the occupants living below are even worse. After all, it's hard to be on the side of a cannibal. That said, after befriending the Robesons' daughter Alice, Fool learns that Mommy and Daddy took in many foster kids over the years, forcing them to live by an impossible standard of ethics. When the children rebelled, they were abandoned "under the stairs," where they became savage.

The children aren't seen properly until the halfway point, so they're built up as a massive threat. But when Fool sees one of the abused kids, Roach, helping Alice, it's obvious he and his kin just want to live in peace. When it's ultimately revealed how Mommy and Daddy are siblings from an inbred family who intend to evict everyone in the neighbourhood, it becomes clear who the real monsters are.