A thirteen year old boy nicknamed Fool lives in the ghetto and has found out his family is going to get evicted from their run down apartment. On top of that he learns his Mother is dying of cancer. Fool is persuaded by family friend, Leroy to sneak into the landlords’ home to steal a prized coin collection rumored to be in their home. Desperate to help save his Mother’s life and the family from being thrown into the streets, Fool goes with Leroy and Leroy’s friend, Spenser to the house. They use all sorts of disguises to get in, but it doesn’t work. Once they force their way into the house, they realize they got a lot more than they were looking for. After Spenser and Leroy are tragically killed, Fool tries to escape. Running for his life, he bumps into the landlords’ daughter, Alice, a young abused girl full of nothing but scars and fear. Fool feels sympathy towards Alice and persuades her to escape with him. Fool then finds out that the evil and sadistic landlords are not a married couple but brother and sister who kidnap young boys and keep them locked up in the cellar. Fool will stop at nothing to save them and in the end Fool becomes the movie’s hero.

The People Under the Stairs (1991)
  • Rating: (12,346 votes)
  • Taglines:In every neighbourhood there is one house that adults whisper about and children cross the street to avoid. Now Wes Craven, creator of "A Nightmare on Elm Street" takes you inside... » In every neighborhood there is one house that adults whisper about and children cross the street to avoid. »
  • Runtime:102 minutes
  • Director: Wes Craven
  • Country:USA
  • Actors:
    Fool (as Brandon Adams)
    Brandon Quintin Adams
    Man
    Everett McGill
    Woman
    Wendy Robie
    Alice
    A.J. Langer
    Leroy
    Ving Rhames
    Roach
    Sean Whalen
    Grandpa Booker
    Bill Cobbs
    Ruby Williams
    Kelly Jo Minter
    Spenser
    Jeremy Roberts
    Mary
    Conni Marie Brazelton
  • Genres:Comedy, Horror, Mystery, Thriller
  • Producers:
    Stuart M. Besser
    producer  
    Dixie J. Capp
    co-producer (as Dixie Capp) 
    Wes Craven
    executive producer  
    Peter Foster
    associate producer  
    Shep Gordon
    executive producer  
    Marianne Maddalena
    producer  
  • Plots: The People Under the Stairs is the story of a young boy (Fool) from the ghetto and takes place on his 13th birthday. In an attempted burglary (along with two others) of the home of his family's evil landlords, he becomes trapped inside their large suburban house and discovers the secret of the "children" that the insane brother and sister have been "rearing" under the stairs. Written by chinagirl
The People Under the Stairs
  • User's comment: by callanvass

    fast paced fun and very stylish little horror flick is very well acted and is kinda creepy in spots i really liked the settings in this one and the dialog is intelligent and it is always interesting and quite stunning at times oh and ya get to see Ving Rhames that is always a pleasure there is lots of blood and a creepy looking basement with lots of weird images and other great delights the direction is awesome tons of stylish shots and it has a great happy ending the movie is at times horrifying and with Wes Craven directing that makes it even better so all in all a great little film that i highly highly recommend i give this movie a ***1/2 out of 5


  • Quotes: Leroy: He came at me like an airplane or something! Leroy: Just because a man's lying down doesn't mean he's dead! Leroy: Yeah, and maybe the President will make me Secretary of Pussy.
  • Also known as: La gente detrás de las paredes (Argentina), La gente detrás de las paredes (Mexico), Люди под лестницей (Russia), As Criaturas Atrás das Paredes (Brazil), Das Haus der Vergessenen (Germany), De mensen onder de trap (Netherlands - informal literal title), El sótano del miedo (Spain), Källarfolket (Finland - Swedish title), Kellariväkeä (Finland), La casa nera (Italy), Le sous-sol de la peur (France), Oi anthropoi kato apo tis skales (Greece - transliterated ISO-LATIN-1 title), Ondskans hus (Sweden), Os Prisioneiros da Cave (Portugal), Rædslernes hus (Denmark - imdb display title), Rémségek háza (Hungary), W mroku pod schodami (Poland - imdb display title), Wes Craven's The People Under the Stairs ( - undefined),

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