We Are Still Here – DVD Review

by | Oct 5, 2015 | Movie Reviews, Reviews | 0 comments

11191035_oriWe Are Still Here
Directed by Ted Geoghegan
Starring: Barbara Crampton, Andrew Sensenig, Larry Fessenden
Dark Sky Films
October 6, 2015
Reviewed by Jess Landry

Tell me if you’ve heard this one before: a grieving couple buy an old house in the country with the hope of starting a new life. Everything seems honky-dory, that is until the new tenants start seeing and hearing some spooky goings-on. In this particular case, they believe it’s the ghost of their deceased son trying to contact them from beyond the grave. They call in a psychic to try and get to the root of the problem, but then all hell ends up breaking loose.

It may sound like the same tired formula (and it pretty much is), but We Are Still Here executes the idea surprisingly well.

It helps that this isn’t a young, vivacious, wrinkle-free couple; the Anne & Paul Sacchetti are an older couple who lose their teenage son in a car crash; their maturity adds to the anguish of the situation. Throughout the grieving process, the tension in the house is built up. It starts small at first – hollow footsteps, the feeling of someone watching you, shadowy figures standing all evil and whatnot behind unsuspecting people – until it escalates into straight-up crazytown. And as the steadily-paced story unfolds, we see that ghosts aren’t the only problem.

The acting is on point, most notably the performance delivered by horror legend Barbara Crampton (Re-Animator, Chopping Mall, The Lords of Salem). She brings a sad vulnerability to her character, Anne – a mother broken from the death of her son who’s trying to convince herself that she wants to move on, but a large part of her believes her son is still with her and won’t let him go. Even as some evil shenanigans befall the couple, Anne still has faith that her boy is there protecting her.

As good as We Are Still Here is, it’s not without its faults. There are a few plot points and disposable characters that could’ve been omitted from the final product and it wouldn’t have made much of a difference. Also, I would’ve liked seeing the characters react a little more frightened to the spooky behaviour – everyone seemed a little too nonchalant while some weird stuff was going down. And the ending itself is a bit too quick and falls a little flat for my tastes, given how successfully the film builds up the atmosphere during the first and second acts.

There’s not too much to say about the DVD and the special features. We get the original trailer, a teaser and a brief behind-the-scenes featurette.

The consensus is that while We Are Still Here doesn’t exactly reinvent the haunted house trope, it’s definitely worth a watch. If you find yourself gravitating towards haunted house movies with a little heart and a lot of atmosphere, you’ll probably get a kick out of this.

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