The People Under the Stairs

A boy living in a poor neighborhood in Los Angeles breaks into a house that local kids avoid, hoping to steal enough to help his family. The house belongs to a strange couple who keep it heavily fortified, and once he is inside he finds that the owners are far more dangerous than any burglar. He discovers captives held in the basement, meets a sheltered girl, and has to survive both the couple and the traps built into the building.

Wes Craven wrote and directed the film, the fourteenth of the twenty-five features he directed in chronological order, arriving between Night Visions and Wes Craven's New Nightmare. Brandon Quintin Adams plays the boy, with Everett McGill and Wendy Robie as the couple, A.J. Langer as the daughter, and Ving Rhames and Sean Whalen in supporting roles. It was produced by Stuart M. Besser and Marianne Maddalena for Universal Pictures and Alive Films.

Made for about six million dollars, the film took in roughly thirty-one million worldwide, a strong return on its budget. On IMDb it holds 6.4 out of 10 from around 39,000 votes, and on TMDB 6.6 out of 10 from a much smaller number of votes. A critics' rating of 6 out of 10 from thirty-three reviews places it close to the audience scores.