You're a Fool, Boy...

Boy, what a long week this was.  We had a big fight on Tuesday, that started in my room no less, but that passed and was taken care of pretty quickly.  Wednesday and Thursday were block periods, so they were long, and today was my first Friday at school in weeks (thanks to being out for medical testing and what not) so it just dragged on and on.  But instruction-wise, it was an easy to handle week.  I guess I can't really complain...but boy am I ever glad that this weekend is a three day weekend.  I won't have to be back to school till Tuesday, very nice.  And this weekend has already started off well.  I got a haircut and a new iPhone from AT&T, they offered me a really good deal on an upgrade...so I've got all kinds of new things to play with this weekend.  The only downside is that this weekend is the first weekend that Patrick and I aren't gonna see each other.  Its too bad, but its necessary I guess.  I mean, absence makes the heart grow fonder and all that.  Anyway, tonight I'm revisiting a fun horror film from the 90s that is equal parts horror, comedy, and children's adventure.  If it wasn't so gory, I think it could have passed as a cousin to the dark fantasies of the 80s.  Anyway, enjoy a dark ride with me as we visit The People Under The Stairs.

Poindexter 'Fool' Williams is celebrating his 13th birthday today...though his day isn't exactly the best.  He and his family live in a slum, are about to be evicted by their landlords, and are dealing with a mother who has cancer.  They are too poor to pay the rent and too poor to care for their mother, so Fool agrees to burgle the landlord's home.  Getting in is pretty easy, but once he and his mentor in crime are inside, they find that stealing is the least of their worries.  Apparently, the landlord and his wife...known as Man and Woman in the credits...have turned the house into a maze of booby traps, secret passages, and things that go bump in the night in order to keep out the world.  Soon, Fool is trapped in the house alone and trying to outrun the crazed couple...as well as the strange people that live in their cellar.  The only one who can help him to escape is a girl named Alice who the Man and Woman are keeping as their daughter.  She is the only one who also knows the ins and outs of the house as well as Man and Woman, and the only one that they won't kill.

Wes Craven crafted a modern fairy tale worthy of Grimm's when he made The People Under the Stairs.  It combines Gothic horror with and old fashioned treasure hunt and the comedy of a children's movie and it is that whimsical nature that makes the film so easy to digest.  Frankly, the actual 'horror' isn't all that intense and the only reason its rated R is for gore and language.  If Craven had made the movie a little tamer he could have sold it to families...but instead he made a film that's too tame for hardcore audiences and too grown up for kids.  Its too bad too, because the story and the performances are really good.  Oh well, its a fine film for a Friday night...and its certainly worth seeing if you haven't already.  Its perfect for lightweights...so even Mom and Miss J could watch it.  Give it a whirl if you'd like a good haunted house style ride.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Day 22: The Story of an Uncommonly Gentle Man

Now I know that there are some of you out there who won't agree with my inclusion of this film as a Christmas movie in my 25 days because it does not seem synonimous with the holiday.  Many of you will even go so far to say that it isn't even about Christmas...and no, it isn't, but it does feature the holiday in both its prologue, third act, and coda and frankly that's good enough for me.  Also, it deals with a very important dramatic question for any Christmas loving child...."where does snow come from"?  And thus, we are launched into the narrative of Edward Scissorhands , one of the most touching and personal films that Tim Burton has ever made. For those of you who don't know the story, it is a modern day fairy tale (that a grandmother tells to her granddaughter in the film no less) that takes place in today's peasant kingdom...suburbia, and how those that live there react to an outsider who is brought into their midst.  Shy Avon lady Peg Boggs (...
Read more

Waters Watch - Day 3: The Only Cereal I Know About is Rice Krispies

I remember the first John Waters movie I saw, which based on its rating and violent content I should never have been allowed to see at my the age of 10.  However, my mother was always more concerned with what she thought I could handle rather than ratings.  For example, my sister and I were allowed to see Pretty Woman very young in our lives...which a lot of parents would have objected to due to the sexual content...but Miss J and I had no idea what the sexual innuendo meant at the time so it was ok.  We never repeated it, that's for sure.  Anyway, mom thought this movie looked funny and she also liked Kathleen Turner...so she figured what the hell.  Of course, it turned out to be something we all enjoyed as a family despite the fact that it was a horror comedy with bad language and gore.  But like I said, Mom knew we could handle it.  That movie was Serial Mom and to date it remains one of my all time favorites from John Waters.  I often wonder...
Read more

Nice Doing Business With You

Image
There are some movies, as I said back when I first started this blog, that we aren't supposed to like because of several factors.  Perhaps it is because the star is someone that is generally known to have little to no talent, or maybe it is the fact that the film is a remake or a sequel to something much more well liked, or maybe the story is just too strange or odd to really connect with mass amounts of people.  Either way, general consensus dictates that the film is of poor quality and so it gets shuffled off to the side to rot.  It might surprise you to know that many of my favorite films fall into that outcast group of films we're supposed to not enjoy.  I think this is the case for two reasons...one, I've always been a little left-of-center regarding my taste, but also when I see these films my expectations remain low and allow the films a much better chance of impressing me.  We come, then, to the film of the day that I have enjoyed since I was in college ...
Read more