The People Under The Stairs Remake - Producers, Writer, And More Info
Wes Craven's 1991 horror hit "The People Under The Stairs" evades easy description. It's a movie that's at once chaotic, insightful, campy, hilarious, horrifying, and weird as hell. There are images in the movie that are impossible to unsee, and ideas about race and capitalism that felt prescient in the '90s and are more relevant than ever now.
"The People Under The Stairs" has been overdue for a remake (the horror master behind it, who also created franchises like "Scream" and "A Nightmare on Elm Street," died in 2015) and it's only fitting that it's finally in the works courtesy of the new master of social commentary-filled thrillers, Jordan Peele. Peele's production company Monkeypaw is at work on an update to Craven's original, and while there's still a lot we don't know about "The People Under the Stairs," we're creeping into the shadows to bring you all the details we can on this fresh take on a very freaky story. Here's everything we know so far.
When does The People Under The Stairs premiere?
"The People Under The Stairs" does not yet have a release date, and since the project is apparently still in the development stages, it will probably be a while until we know when to expect the film. News about the movie's development first began floating around back in 2020, but the only new detail trades have gleaned since then is that the movie now has a writer on board.
Given that "The People Under the Stairs" comes from major studio Universal and Jordan Peele's company Monkeypaw Productions, it seems likely that when it does finally come out from under those stairs to see the light of day, it'll have a theatrical run. Every Monkeypaw movie to date — including films like "Get Out" and "Candyman" — has spent at least some time in theaters, with the exception of the 2022 animated Netflix movie "Wendell & Wild."
What are the plot details of The People Under the Stairs?
Though Monkeypaw and Universal have yet to release an official plot synopsis for "The People Under The Stairs," the fact that it's being called a remake means the bones of the new version will likely match up with those of the 1991 Wes Craven film of the same name. That movie tells the story of two burglars (Ving Rhames and Jeremy Roberts) and a little boy named Fool (Brandon Adams) — all of them Black, importantly — who break into the home of a pair of landlords to pay for Fool's mother's surgery. Inside the house, they uncover a grotesque situation involving several trapped, feral children and the two creepy slumlords, who call themselves Mommy and Daddy (Wendy Robie and Everett McGill — Nadine and Ed for the "Twin Peaks" heads out there).
As one of a small handful of 20th-century American horror films to overtly satirize race relations — in this case, those between white, resource-hoarding homeowners and the people of color they're pushing out with gentrification — "The People Under the Stairs" is a great fit for Peele's production company. In fact, Peele has previously cited the original film as a partial inspiration for his first massive hit, "Get Out."
Plot details for the updated version are still under wraps, so it's unclear whether it will adhere closely to the original or go in a new direction. A 2020 report by Collider noted that it won't be like the proposed "People Under The Stairs" TV show that was in the works before Craven died; that show sounded like it was set to be a more atmospheric take on the original, about a woman who went missing at the landlords' mansion. The new movie will apparently focus more on the social commentary built into the original film.
Who are the writers and producers of The People Under the Stairs?
Although the appearance of Peele's name in headlines will have horror fans chomping at the bit assuming the filmmaker is directing and writing the movie himself, it's worth noting that he's currently only on board as a producer. There is no director attached at this point, but Peele's "Candyman" co-writer Win Rosenfeld, who has produced several Monkeypaw projects, is also on board this one behind the scenes.
The movie also has a script in the works from Ezra Claytan Daniels, per Bloody Disgusting. Daniels is a multimedia artist who's written graphic novels (time travel saga "The Changers," trippy "Upgrade Soul," which later became an Audible original) and created live art pieces ("The Comic Art Battle") in addition to writing on shows like "Doom Patrol" and "Night Sky." He also wrote a segment of the 2021 anthology "Horror Noire" (not to be mistaken for the earlier documentary of the same name). While this will be Daniels' first feature film script, he certainly has the creative, thoughtful horror bona fides needed to tackle a project like this one.
Is The People Under The Stairs based on a true story?
"The People Under The Stairs" will be based at least in part on Wes Craven's 1991 horror comedy of the same name, but interestingly, Craven himself based that film on a true story — although the details of the source material differ greatly depending on who you ask.
In "A Critical Companion to Wes Craven," the film's star Yan Birch is quoted as saying that "[Wes] brilliantly cast a diverse and talented ensemble and tackled issues that were ripped from the headlines; Wes wrote 'The People Under the Stairs' based on a true story about rich, racist slumlords taking advantage of an African American family." References to Ronald and Nancy Reagan — and sometimes to then-real estate bigwig Donald Trump — pop up often in writings about the film, but the specifics of Craven's inspiration are a bit more elusive.
The American Film Institute cited production notes from the movie stating that Craven was inspired by a 1978 news story from the Santa Monica Evening Outlook, one which involved "the discovery of three hostage children at a burglarized property." An LA Weekly retrospective from 2017 gets even more specific, claiming that the news story involved a white suburban resident calling the cops on Black robbers, only for cops to arrive and discover that "the homeowner had been keeping feral children in the house as prisoners."
Regardless of the details, it's clear that Craven had real-life racial stereotypes, gentrification, and greed — particularly the greed of white people amassing wealth while mistreating others — on the mind while writing the original film. With Peele, Rosenfeld, and Daniels hard at work on the new "People Under The Stairs," we should expect a reboot that's just as thoughtful and scary.