Back in the late 1990’s, when a young Matt Kelly was first discovering his love of horror movies as well the resourcefulness of the internet, he began a quest to find a movie he saw as a child. The movie I was searching for involved a kid moving into a house and the only details I remember were (1) smoke coming out of the vents (2) a couch ate someone (3) a kid getting trapped in a basement.
Now it turns out this movie was Saturday the 14th Strikes Back which wasn’t a good movie… but I didn’t find that out for many years. The first movie someone suggested it might be was People Under the Stairs. Now if you’re familiar with this movie you know that only 1 of those 3 things actually happened. So this was also my first lesson in the unreliablity of the internet.
I could not figure out what to make of this movie. I didn’t like it but yet… I couldn’t stop thinking about it. Was it a comedy? Was it a horror? Few films made me feel the way that People Under the Stairs made me feel. I watched it repeatedly.
As the years went by my love for this movie grew and grew. I was obsessed with its quirks. I’ve met a small handful of people who adore this movie with the same origin story as myself, but most hate it.
Rewatching this movie in its beautiful Scream Factory transfer just further reminded me of how much I love this movie. It’s a creepy flick with a wicked sense of humor. As far as Wes Craven’s “lesser” films I think this one is his hidden masterpiece.
Scream Factory really did this Blu-Ray right. Beyond its great transfer they have finally given us a commentary track so that you can hear Wes Craven explain this insane film to us, as well as a commentary from the cast.
There’s also lots of Behind-The-Scenes footage and interviews with everyone from the actors, the special effects team, the composer and the director of photography.
People Under the Stairs is available by Scream Factory today!