“The People Under The Stairs” is a 1991 horror movie directed by Wes Craven. Pointdexter aka “Fool”, a young black teenager lives in a LA Ghetto and one day his whole family is evicted by their local slumlords, the Robesons.

Fool is warned by his grandfather that the Robesons are in fact brother and sister but live as a couple and keep tons of inbreds, talk about loco. However Leroy (Fool’s sister’s friend) has a great idea: he should rob the Robsesons’ house to revenge! The boy reluctantly agrees to assist him. Leroy first poses as a boy scout selling cookies and asks to use the bathroom, in vain. Then Spencer, an accomplice, pretends to be a government worker of some sort but is denied entry as well. Spencer doesn’t come back so Leroy and Fool decide to break in by force.

They discover a high-security environment with old fashioned furnitures. Fool ends up in the basement and realizes the rumors were actually true: the crazy “couple” keeps inbreds in the house, many of them are mutilated and reduced to being cannibalistic animals. The Robesons come back and shoot Leroy, killing him in the process.

As Fool searches for an exit, he meets an innocent young girl named Alice. Alice hides Fool in her room and tells him her “parents” have to lock the boys downstairs because they failed to be perfect; well they’re inbreds what do you expect? It’s unclear whether the Robesons are Alice’s biological parents but one thing’s for sure: she never saw the outside world.

Fool gets out of the house and call 911 telling the cops about possible child abuse at the Robesons’ home. The police enters the house but finds nothing. Fool decides he has to go back in to save Alice.

Fool gets in just before the police leaves, frees Alice and blows up the house with Mr Robesons’ explosives. As the house blows up, tons of dollar bills are ejected from the chimney. The locals are finally getting their money back!

I just love this flick! The grimmey, lo-fi aspect is very appealing and Brandon Adams (Fool) delivers a strong performance. Highly recommended. 5/5