The People Under the Stairs (1991)

Wes Craven sure as hell is a master of horror, but he’s also a master of comedy, the latter trait knife sharp in “The People Under the Stairs,” a gore-filled laugh-riot that has a racist, NRA-card-packing psychotic redneck yuppie-wannabe cannibal brother and sister turned married couple (whew!) as the landlords of the L.A. “ghetto,” ruling over low-income African-Americans, stashing money and gold in their lunatic mansion. That’s right, the goofiest rich white stereotype, played over the top by Everett McGill and Wendy Robie -– they also played husband and wife on “Twin Peaks” -– who turn up the crazy to 1,011. Also stashed in that creepy-ass house: A Horde of teenagers, including a girl named Alice (A.J. Langer), all held hostage by the kooky couple, each child disposed of if they dare hear, see, or speak evil. Our hero is a black teen (Brandon Adams) who longs to be a doctor, to save his dying momma, and yet faces a life of crime. Craven dumps clichés faster than body parts, but it’s all for sick-twisted satirical laughs, and darn if they don’t work. B

Blue Velvet (1986)

"Blue Velvet'' is David Lynch's nightmarish masterpiece about the evil in small town America.

From the get-go we know we're in for a trip to hell as the camera settles in on a seemingly perfect Lumberton, N.C., house with perfectly upbeat music in the background, and then inches ever closer to grass in front of a white picket fence. Within that grass are insects -- filmed so close they appear as monsters, destroying the land they crawl on as they devour each other. The man watering that grass then falls upon the ground from a stroke. With this cooler than hell montage and much of his other work (the pilot to "Twin Peaks" and "The Elephant Man"), David Lynch remains at the top of my list of favorite film makers.

We soon follow Jeffrey (Kyle MacLachlan), the college age son of the stricken man, as he walks home from the hospital. In a field, he starts throwing rocks at an old shack, letting off the anger and grief he feels at his father's illness. Picking up another stone, he finds a severed human ear in the grass. The Intrigued Jeffrey then plunges into a dark, disturbing investigation involving a mysterious singer (Isabella Rossellini), a teenage girl (Laura Dern) and a man (Dennis Hooper) so monstrous you can't argue that he's come directly from Hell.

This is the ultimate FUBAR cult film and Lynch's best work, a brilliant, surrealist drama-noir-mystery with scenes strange (Dean Stockwell lip syncs "In Dreams") and shockingly violent (the physical assault of a woman) that play alive and real. As in his other works, Lynch uses music (the song "Blue Velvet") and the notions of teen love, white picket fences and stoic square-jawed WASP heroes from the 1950s, America's "glory years," to show us the evil that is all around us.

Although Lynch shows us monstrous acts that are as shocking now as when the film premiered more than 20 years ago, he also shows us that love eventually will overcome that evil. His world isn't hopeless after all. You can watch this film a dozen times ands pick out new mysteries and points, or images (red curtains) that appear in nearly all of Lynch's work.

The cast is brilliant, especially MacLachlan's stalwart college boy, but Hopper stands out as what has to be the most depraved, psychopathic character ever put on film. This is a must watch film, if you can stomach it.

One note, I almost moved to the real Lumberton, N.C., to take a job -- while in college. I didn't go. A+