10 Underappreciated 90s Horror Movies
6. The People Under The Stairs
The late, great Wes Craven has long been renowned as real ground-breaker in horror. He helped redefine the genre in the 70s, 80s and 90s with The Last House on the Left, A Nightmare on Elm Street and Scream respectively.
However, whilst the period between the original Nightmare and Scream had its highs and lows, Craven did make a few concerted efforts to break new ground in that time. Ranking high among these is 1991's The People Under The Stairs, one of the director's most striking, and all too often overlooked efforts.
An unorthodox blend of arch Gothic and urban decay, the film follows a young black inner city boy nicknamed Fool (Brandon Adams) whose family are facing eviction from their apartment. Seeking retribution, Fool sneaks into the house of their landlords, but soon discovers they're far from your average upper-middle class white married couple.
Blending post-Reagan era social commentary with nightmarish melodrama and classic 'old dark house' horror, The People Under The Stairs is a very busy, and undoubtedly rather untidy film. However, it's considerably more inventive and unpredictable than the bulk of the films to come out of the 1990s.
It marked quite a return to form for Craven, and this winning streak would continue...