We Are Still Here

In the cold, wintry fields of New England, a lonely old house wakes up every thirty years - and demands a sacrifice.

Let's face it: Barbara Crampton delivers one of her stronger performances, whereas the male lead delivers his lines in a very stunted way. He shall not even be named here. But good on Crampton! Far too many "horror icons" feel the need to phone in their performances, thinking their name on the poster is all that matters. And while it is true that Crampton's name does sell, she adds a great deal of value to her name here, in what may be her best work since the Stuart Gordon years.

We also have a fun role for Larry Fessenden, who really deserves to have a little fun. Has any other creative genius launched more great independent filmmakers in the last decade? I would guess not.

To be honest, this movie baffled me. Is it absolutely terrible? No. Did it have potential? Yes. But somehow all of it amounted to only this bizarre mess of a film. Let me put something out there first: "We Are Still Here" clocks in at one hour and 17 minutes. At the end I expected there to be 20 more minutes of movie left. The whole thing felt rushed, and the ending was...abrupt, to say the least.

The story follows a couple who move into a new house hoping to move past the death of their son. This is a time-tested plot. However, "We Are Still Here" proceeds to give us almost no information about the son and no time to feel the weight of his parent's grief. It merely establishes that his mother can "feel his presence" in the house before embarking on a series of cheap scares. There are several very sudden character deaths that in a better movie would seem bold. Here they just seem lazy. There is precisely one very creepy moment that would have been perfect if it hadn't immediately transitioned to a series of jump scares (that it was also intercut with Lisa Marie's "acting" didn't help).

The later scenes involve almost cartoonish amounts of gore. If the movie was an intentional horror-comedy this would have been fine. The first 3/4 of the movie seemed to be going for straight horror, though, so I didn't know what to make of it. I could talk about the bad writing and jarringly terrible lighting as well, but what would be the point? It ultimately felt like a short film stretched beyond its limit. The concept would have worked great in a tight 15-20 minutes, where movies can get away with the spareness and ambiguity that "We Are Still Here" features. As it is, though, it feels like a movie that ran out of budget and ideas long before it was truly finished.

I had high hopes for this one, especially after seeing where it was heading. Don't ask my why, cause there have been so many such productions, and still, somehow, I hoped for the best.

OK, let us begin: the movie is not bad, it has some good jump scares, OK effects, decent plot tho ever used, good actors and a cold chill surrounding. So, why does it fail? I'll tell you: the plot brings nothing new, the ending is as predictable as it gets and it acts exactly like so many before it. OK, maybe the production is better, maybe the budget was bigger and used for the best, still, the story behind it all, has nothing new to offer, just that tired old formula.

Once you see it, you'll understand. At points it even makes little sense. But more deaths had to occur therefore logic had to make a run for it. Overall, a 5, maybe even a solid 5 but nothing more.

Cheers!

Although haunted house flicks are ten a penny these days, the genre can occasionally throw out a decent attempt and WE ARE STILL HERE is one such film. It's a deliberately old-fashioned piece - apparently inspired by the works of Lucio Fulci - which sees a grieving couple move into a chilly old home only to discover that both the house and the townsfolk are hiding some dark secrets.

This is traditional, low key stuff for the most part, although it builds to a powerhouse climax which is jaw-dropping stuff. The ghost material is rather creepy and the only thing I didn't care for much were the séance sequences, which are too familiar to work very well these days (although they do allow for the presence of cult actors Larry Fessenden and Lisa Marie).

An all-grown-up Barbara Crampton (of RE-ANIMATOR infamy) is a good choice for the role of the protagonist, and the production as a whole has a minimalist feel which really works. The chilly New York landscape is brought to life like never before, and if by the end it is all very predictable, you can't deny that it packs a punch nonetheless.

Greetings from Lithuania.

"We Are Still Here" (2015) is a pretty effective horror film. It has some great atmosphere, good chills, scary sounds and images and very solid acting. The problems with this movie begins at the end - they somehow didn't live up to the great hype they achieved in the first part of this movie, and ending is just blood bath. Nevertheless, almost everything works were so good that i can safely recommend this movie to all horror lovers.

Overall, "We Are Still Here" isn't original, but it's effective genre picture. It has great chilling "hounted house" setting, intriguing cinematography, good acting, nice pacing (although movie is kinda short), and some genuinely good scares. All in all i can recommend to see this horror flick. The ending is a bit off, nevertheless the whole ride is pretty good.