Movie Review: ‘We Are Still Here’

An old farmhouse with an ancient curse. An unsuspecting family. A creepy town, and of course a dark empty basement that the character just can’t help but spend far too much time in. And there we have all the ingredients to the thrill-ride blast that is We Are Still Here

Starring horror royalty Barbara Crampton (in a fantastic turnout as the distraught mother) and channelling all the goodness of all of those great ’70s and ’80s classic horrors, director Ted Geoghegan brings us a modern classic horror that breathes some much needed life into the blandish ghost story horrors that we’ve been exposed to in recent years. Get ready for a throwback classic haunted house ghost story that will make those bumps in the night eerie again.

We Are Still Here opens with Anne (Crampton) and Paul (Andrew Sensenig) moving to their new semi-secluded farm house in New England following the death of their son, Bobby. Anne is haunted by the death and truly believes that she can sense Bobby is still with them in some form and Paul is hoping moving away from a busy City will help ease their – mostly Anne’s – pain. The house has just the right amount of creep-factor to it and with a slow build of things that move far off in the shadows and small bumps here and there, it’s enough to set the tension well and make you want to turn the lights on and cover your eyes. When big-weirdo neighbour Dave (Monte Markham) and his jittering wife pop by to say hello, those creepy level excel by the revelation of the history that the house has. Still unsettled and an ever growing sense of Bobby’s presence, Anne and Paul invite their psychic friends May (Lisa Marie) and Jacob (Larry Fessenden) ,who are into the whole communicating with the other-side…thing, and we have our set-up for a mind-blowing showdown that turns to this quiet horror in an instant to notch 11!

First-time director Geoghegan channels all the greatness from those classic horrors, making a solid debut that not only stands alone in 2015 as simply the best horror of the year so far, because quite simply there’s nothing else that even comes close to rivalling it, but it’s a film that would hold its own against some of the best from that time it clearly pays homage to.

The ghouls down in the basement upon reveal are a little off to what you would expect but their outlandish look goes hand in hand with the style of this film, which overall goes for the far-fetched effect with its style and sometimes with the acting too, but in no way is it a bad thing as it all adds to the experience of this tongue-in-cheek, impressive horror.

There are mild inconsistencies in the story and outcome but overall We Are Still Here stays on the right track, so the small diversions aren’t enough to put you off the film as it continues to scare, genuinely scare, through until the end. And that’s what tends to be missing from modern horror films nowadays. They rely too much of cheap scares and overly complex and sometimes corny endings. Geoghegan doesn’t fall victim to these mistakes and instead allows his film to play out naturally and satisfyingly enough to make We Are Still Here a beacon for how all good ghost stories should be made.

We Are Still Here rolls out in theatres across the US this week on the 5th of June.