[Mother of Fears] Be Seen And Not Heard in The People Under the Stairs

Welcome to Mother of Fears – a monthly column that will explore the various roles that mothers play within the horror genre. Mothers are a staple feature in horror movies, and yet, their stories, motivations, representations, and relationships with their children are so varied and complex that we never feel like we’re watching the same story twice. Every month I will take a look at a different mother from the world of horror, explore their story, and look at how they fit into the broader representation of women in horror.

Some people are so desperate to be mothers that they will go to extraordinary lengths to ensure their wish is fulfilled. For Mommy in The People Under the Stairs, that means stealing children from the neighbourhood in the hopes of being delivered a perfect child without having to give birth to it and raise it herself. This could be because her partner is actually her brother, but it could also be due to the fact that Mommy thinks this is the easiest way to complete their home and get the family she has always dreamed of. 

However, Mommy has very strict rules in her house, and if her children don’t stick to them, they will be punished. The only child that appears to currently live in Mommy’s house is Alice, who is so terrified of her mother that the first time we see them interacting Alice edges away from the person who is supposed to be her caretaker. 

Alice gets by in Mommy’s house by following all the rules to the letter, and never disobeying her. If any of Mommy’s children are seen to be breaking the hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil rules then they will be punished, usually meaning the offending body part gets removed. Mommy then deems the children unsavable, but as she is unable to throw them out of the house and risk them telling their families what happened to them, they are instead locked in the basement. There, the forgotten children have resorted to cannibalism to survive, and are often fed the bodies of anyone unlucky enough to wander into the house. 

Mommy could choose to kill these children now they have served their purpose in her eyes but having an army of brutal cannibals in the basement comes in handy for a family with so many secrets. It’s worth noting that all the children in the basement are all boys, with Mommy hunting for the “perfect boy child” according to Alice. After so many failed attempts, Mommy decides to change tact and opts to steal a little girl instead. 

On the surface, Alice radiates the image of a perfect daughter. She wears beautiful, pristine dresses, and her bedroom looks like something out of a dollhouse. But Mommy has very outdated ideas about how women should act, and her obsession with everyone going to hell means that she tries to keep her children from doing anything remotely evil. Alice isn’t allowed to lick her dinner plate, and she’s well aware of the punishment for losing a piece of silverware after she’s served her dinner. 

However, Alice isn’t immune to punishment, and while she hasn’t lost a tongue or an eye like some of the other children, Mommy often sets Daddy on her to dish out physical punishment while Mommy leaves the room. Mommy is the brains of the operation, but more often than not, she leaves the brawn side of things to Daddy. Daddy is the one who runs around the house in his leather suit, desperately trying to capture anyone who enters the house. His approach to the whole situation is frantic and without any planning. However, Mommy takes the time to plan out what is happening, to consider the best approach, and she always has to check Daddy’s work to ensure he’s really done what he says he’s done. 

---

HAVE YOU LISTENED TO OUR PODCATS YET?

---

Daddy can’t work without instruction, and even then he works more on instinct rather than intelligence. He is seen shooting up the walls, destroying the house, and generally drawing attention to what’s happening as he attempts to capture Fool, the young boy trying to rob them. He only thinks about what is happening in the moment, whereas Mommy plans for the future. Chances are it was her idea to keep her forgotten children and make them useful, rather than add to their problems by having even more bodies to get rid of. 

To an outsider, Mommy may be viewed as the perfect lady of the house. Her hairstyle and dress sense mirrors a ‘50s housewife, and she has the uncanny ability to switch from raging dictator to helpful citizen as soon as the police start sticking their nose in. She knows what she has to do to survive and to keep anyone she doesn't like out of her and Daddy’s business. But a closer look at Mommy and the house, and you can see what life is really like on the inside. Mommy's hard eyes can barely contain her rage at outsiders, and every window of the house is barred, locked, and bolted to keep people out, as well as to keep her children locked safely inside. 

The only child who really behaves exactly as expected is Mommy’s beloved dog, Prince. The Rottweiler often accompanies Daddy on his missions of violence, though he is usually far more successful than his human counterparts. Prince is often sent into the walls to try and capture the children where Daddy is too big to fit.

When Fool and his friends break into Mommy and Daddy’s house, he causes chaos, but Mommy’s main problem with the whole situation seems to be Alice interacting with Fool. This isn’t purely because he’s an intruder and a criminal, but due to Mommy displaying a moral objection to Alice being in a room alone with a young boy. Alice appears to have a higher standard of rules to stick to because she is a girl, and with Fool in the house, Mommy fears she may lose her innocence.

When Alice has been captured and locked in the attic, Daddy walks towards her, rubbing her groin before Mommy commands him to come and help her instead. Mommy so desperately wants a little girl after all her sons have failed her, and yet with Alice getting older, Mommy seems to realise that she could pose a threat to her relationship with Daddy. She judges Alice’s apparent sinful behaviour of being anywhere near men, and she’s also jealous that Daddy’s attention may start to wander elsewhere. 

All these new feelings mounting on top of an already unstable woman mean that Mommy ends up doing a pretty great Mrs White from Carrie (1976) impression. With Alice taking Fool’s side over the gospel of her mother, Mommy charges at her with a comically large kitchen knife. She chooses to use religion as a reason to rid herself of her worrisome children, and while she targets bad behaviour with the boys, she focuses on the morality of what she thinks Alice has been up to. Either way, it’s all a convenient excuse for her to dispose of her children when she’s no longer able to control them and continue the illusion of a happy family. 

Just as Mommy is about to stab Alice, her brothers burst through from the basement and finally attack her. This marks the moment Mommy finally loses control, as the people under the stairs swarm the house, escaping their confined area once and for all. Alice finally finds the strength to stand up to her mother, stabbing her and allowing the other children to feast on her as she falls into the basement. 

In the end, the house and the power dynamic have switched positions. The forgotten children climb out of the basement and escape into the night, possibly to their old lives, but at least to a life that’s better than their current one. And Mommy and Daddy lie dead in the basement, along with all the others they’ve killed over the years. 

It’s unclear why Mommy was so desperate to even have children in the first place. They seem to do nothing but cause her strife and trouble. And while the children in the basement have proved useful in the past, the very reason why Mommy and Daddy need to keep visitors as far away from the house as possible is because they’re trying to protect the secrets of those children. Mommy and Daddy have backed themselves into a situation which has no easy escape, and with the children only getting hungrier and angrier by the day, it was only a matter of time before they escaped and took their revenge. 

RELATED ARTICLES

---

---

EXPLORE

---

MORE ARTICLES

---

---