Jordan Peele Remaking One Of The Best ’90s Horror Movies

The original film is certainly one of the most unconventional films in horror history. The wild plot follows a boy and a couple of robbers who get trapped inside a house they are trying to rob. Soon, though, ill-gotten gains are the last thing on their mind after they discover a large group of scary-looking cannibal kids hiding in the house who have some terrible secrets of their own.

Considering that the original film was directed by horror maestro Wes Craven (who brought us, among other things, both Nightmare On Elm Street and Scream), it was likely difficult to find someone big enough and talented enough to follow in his footsteps. Fortunately, Jordan Peele seems like the perfect choice of producer to remake The People Under the Stairs. In addition to his undisputed talent as a horror director, Peele is a great choice because he intimately understands both horror and comedy, and most of Craven’s best films (including The People Under the Stairs) had a mixture of both.

The remake doesn’t yet have a director attached, but Jordan Peele will serve as a producer for The People Under the Stairs, and Monkeypaw Productions will be producing this film for Universal Pictures. Peele’s horror record really speaks for itself: his 2018 directorial Get Out ended up getting four Academy Award nominations, including a nomination for Best Picture. And the combined box office haul for Peele’s trio of films (Get Out, Us, and Nope) is $683 million worldwide, so Universal likely has some high hopes for the success of this particular remake.

While Jordan Peele is the biggest name attached to The People Under the Stairs remake so far, we’re also quite excited that the film will be written by Ezra Claytan Daniels. He has written great episodes of some amazing genre television shows like Night Sky and served as executive story editor on Doom Patrol (one of our favorites). In addition to his success as a TV writer, Daniels has also been nominated for Eisner, Harvey, and Ignatz awards for his graphic novels Upgrade Soul (soon to be a film of its own) and BTTM FDRS.

We wish there were more details about this upcoming horror remake (including firm announcements of a director and cast), but we’re still quite excited to hear that Jordan Peele and such talented creators will be bringing this version of The People Under the Stairs to life.

Peele and Daniels seem to have a solid working relationship (after all, Daniels made a contribution to Peele’s New York Times Bestselling anthology Out There Screaming), and Monkeypaw Productions has produced all three of Peele’s hit horror films. Here’s hoping that Peele and crew end up bringing us a remake that combines all of the horror, black comedy, and incisive social satire of the Wes Craven original.