The People Under the Stairs

Today's horror film was Wes Craven's The People Under the Stairs. After Wes Craven's death this year I wanted to make sure I watched at least a few Craven movies to pay homage to one of the masters of horror. 

The 90s were a helluva era. The cheese of the 80s had somehow been amplified to a weird, even goofier cheese and this seems especially for horror movies. If this movie suffers from anything it's that. The People Under the Stairs is this to a tee, as it finds itself while being horrifying also laughing at itself. It's basically the Home Alone with weird mutant people that live under the stairs, a Bruce Campbell lookalike dressed as a gimp with a shotgun, a bizarre, murderous family, and the black kid from The Sandlot getting up to all kinds of shenanigans. Oh, and Ving Rhames. Always Ving Rhames.

Wes Craven, you lovable weirdo.

All that said, I really, really don't know what to make of this movie. It's entertaining in it's weirdness but it's almost like a circus: a mishmash of bizzaro things put up on screen for our amusement. It's fun, but is it good? I'm still not sure.

My best attempt at a rating...

7.5/10