10 Horror Movies Where The American Dream Becomes A Nightmare

The late Wes Craven was a master at imbuing his terrifically entertaining, highly commercial films with tricky discussions of important or intriguing issues. One of the less remembered entries into his canon is The People Under The Stairs, a lighthearted but often disturbing horror-comedy about the putrefying nature of untapped greed.

Craven, who also wrote the film, takes on gentrification from the off, with main character Fool Williams being evicted from his once-affordable home by landlords the Robesons. Played to the sinister hilt by Everett McGill and Wendie Robie, the Robesons are husband and wife who call each other Mommy and Daddy, a clear warning sign that things aren’t right.

The plot sees Fool and his friends break into the house only to find themselves trapped with the Robesons’ dreadfully abused children. Punished for infractions of minor rules, the kids are locked below the stairs, where they’ve descended into cannibalism. It’s a taught, single-location survival horror with Craven’s usual array of gore and suspense.

The film goes deeper than this, though, with the Robesons an example of capitalistic landlords taken to the extreme. Their desire for riches has seen them accumulate property and wealth has turned them corrupt, deranged, murderous. Coupled with the whole incest thing, they’re a pretty grim pair of villains.