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We_Are_Still_Here_film_festival_poster_2015Greetings from the horror underground. Logan here to review the movie We Are Still Here, a new release on Netflix from Writer/Director Ted Geoghegan (Producer, ABCs of Death 2). I had heard some great things about this film, so I was excited to check it out… especially when I heard that the movie is is full of references to Lucio Fulci’s The House by the Cemetery (1981). Fulci directed one of my favorite movies of all time, Zombie. With that said, let’s get into the review.

Note: We’re going to delve into the plot of the movie and discuss specific scenes, so there may be some minor spoilers ahead. 

The movie starts with winter scenes of snow and trees, along with a shot of firewood, as we begin to see a car driving down a road. Inside the car is a couple, Annie (Barbara Crampton) and Andre Sacchetti (Andrew Sensenig). The couple have packed up and are headed to their new home somewhere in New England.

wearestillhere

Upon arrival, Annie takes out a picture and sets it on a desk in the hall. We now see the couple drinking separately… Annie at home watching TV, while Andrew is out at bar. In the next scene, we see the couple laying in bed together watching television. In the background, we see the picture that Annie set on the desk get mysteriously knocked over. The scene fades to black, and the movie’s title flashes on the screen in bright red letters — a nice throw back to old 70s and 80s opening title scenes.

What we know right away is that we’re about to watch a haunted house type of movie. Immediately following the credits, Annie begins unpacking and starts to hear strange sounds out of nowhere. She descends into the basement, where things start to get real creepy. She finds a baseball glove with the name Bobby written on it. We see a black ghost looking figure behind her, and a baseball falls downs the steps.

wearestillhere

As the movie progresses, we learn the morbid history of the house. The prior residents operated a funeral home out of the house and were accused of illegally selling corpses. We also find out Annie & Paul had a son named Bobby who died in a car crash two months earlier. A grieving Annie suspects her son Bobby’s presence is still with her, even in the new house. She convinces Paul to let their spiritualist friends, May and Jacob Lewis (Lisa Marie and Larry Fessenden), come for a visit in the hopes they can help contact Bobby and explain some of the strange happenings in the home.

The Lewis’ also have a son, Harry, who was Bobby’s roommate freshman year before he died in a tragic car crash. Annie and Paul invite Harry and his girlfriend to join them at their new home as well. When the young couple arrive at the house, everyone is out eating dinner at one of the local restaurants. This is actually a great scene, which I won’t spoil for you. But it builds some great tension and made me really take notice of how exceptionally well this movie is shot.

We Are Still Here 2

The movie now cuts to a scene with an old man explaining that the previous owners are still there and haunting the house. A family needs to be sacrificed every 30 years or the town will be attacked, as the ghosts of the family will stop at nothing for their sacrifice.

Up until this point, I was starting to get a little worried because there was not much gore. However, when the couples return to house after dinner, the movie really kicks into high gear. Towards the end of the film, we get to experience a straight up splatter fest full of bloody kills from the family who still haunts the house. I was really impressed during the last 25 minutes of the film. It got really hardcore.

crampton-wearestillhere

Overall, I really enjoyed this movie and would definitely recommend it to fans of stylish, atmospheric, old school horror movies. It had just the right mix of suspense and gory practical effects. Gore hounds like myself will not be disappointed. It does take a while to get to the bloodshed, but it’s definitely worth the wait. If you enjoy this film, I also recommend you watch The House of the Devil or The Sacrifice (which is also available on Netflix). I’ll be reviewing the latter film next, so stay tuned for that.

Rating: 4/5 (Netflix), 6/10 (IMDB)


Editor’s Note: We’re excited to welcome Logan, our newest columnist, to the Morbidly Beautiful family. We hope you enjoyed his first review, and new reviews will be headed your way weekly. If you have a movie you’d like us to review on Netflix or on demand, please drop us a note in the comments. And, if you’d like a second opinion on this film, click here to read our original review.

2 Comments

2 Records

  1. on May 31, 2016 at 7:19 am
    Andy Paton wrote:

    Makes me want to watch this movie again…

    Reply
    • on May 31, 2016 at 6:59 pm
      Logan (P1u9) wrote:

      /Thank you Andy for reading the review! Soon I’m about to release a new review for The Sacrament!

      Reply

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