Wes Craven strikes out in this mix of horror flick and Joseph Campbell mythos.

The People Under the Stairs may be as misshapen as the people who live in this basement, but it might be as subversive too.

A pretense of social responsibility and most of the necessary tension get lost in a combination of excessive gore and over-the-top perfs in The People Under the Stairs.

This is a dark comedy and horror movie with a decent amount of disturbing ideas and themes. It’s executed in such a way that dates it tremendously, but leaves you with that waxy film of early 90’s charm coating your mouth.