We Are Still Here is a gory, scream filled film with the most classic horror theme of all: the haunted house. An older couple, Paul and Anne, move to a an awkwardly quiet New England countryside to start a new life for themselves. Their son was killed in a car crash and they’re trying to find a way to heal.
Sadly, there’s no way for that to happen as the family soon becomes prey for evil, vengeful and murderous spirits that have been dwelling in their home. The house demands a sacrifice every thirty years and this couple is just in time to experience a horrific haunting that’s bound to claim their lives. It’s not long before the couple discovers the town they thought was so peaceful and serene is hiding a horrible secret. Anne and Paul must get over their grief quick to fight against both the living and the dead. The evil spirits in their home threaten to pull their souls and the souls of their dead son in to hell for eternity.
Just from hearing the plot line, I was not impressed. This story has been done a million times and frankly, I’m not hopeful this film has anything new to offer the genre. The first half of the trailer didn’t give me much faith in the film either. The film has the proper gloomy, horror haze to it, but the acting felt terrible. I can respect if it’s an independent film, but that’s no excuse for poor acting. I’ve seen better acting at a high school play to be honest.
The trailer said the film is produced by the producers of The House of The Devil and Starry Eyes, both films of which for me was a huge let down. It was at that point I pretty much made my mind up about the film. This is going to be another painfully slow, run-of-the-mill haunted house film.
Towards the end of the trailer we finally get to see what makes this film a horror film. We see burnt evil spirits in the basement, people getting sucked through the stairs, sucked through walls, and evil spirits charging the house. The special effects are the only thing that would make me watch this movie. The creepy images I’m seeing are pretty scary and look like a lot of time and expertise went in to the graphics.
This movie reminds me of The House of The Devil in its potential. However, we have to hope that unlike many other horror films the most intense scenes are not in the last few minutes of the movie. That’s a big pet peeve of mine and it would be a shame if this film fell victim to it.
It apparently has many cliches sprinkled through out. The young girl slowly descending in to a dark basement? Yeah, that hasn’t been done a million-and-one times. This movie seems like it would make a great Saturday night watch when you’re struggling to find something on Netflix. Like The House of The Devil and Starry Eyes (both on Netflix) I’m not counting on this to be a horror gem, but you never know!