WE ARE STILL HERE (2015)

Studio:       Dark Sky Films
Director:    Ted Geoghegan
Writer:       Ted Geoghegan
Producer:  Travis Stevens
Stars:     Barbara Crampton, Andrew Sensenig, Larry Fessenden, Lisa Marie, Monte Markham

Review Score:

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Summary:

A grieving couple moves into an isolated New England home that hides a small town’s dark secret.

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Synopsis:     Show/Hide Spoilers

Two months after the death of their adult son Bobby, Anne and Paul Sacchetti move into a new home in the New England town of Aylesbury. Paranormal activity begins occurring around the house that Anne attributes to her son’s spirit.

Neighbors Dave and Cat McCabe visit to introduce themselves. Dave explains that the house was originally built as a funeral home for the Dagmar family in 1859. The Dagmars were run out of town when it was discovered corpses were being sold and empty coffins were buried in their place. As they leave, Cat passes Paul a note that reads, “this house needs a family. Get out.”

Paranormal activity escalates. An electrician named Joe is badly burned when a charred figure attacks him in the cellar.

Spiritualists May and Jacob Lewis, the parents of Bobby Sacchetti’s former roommate Harry Lewis, arrive at the house to help Anne dig into the supernatural activity. Anne, Paul, May, and Jacob discuss events over dinner in town at Buffalo Bill’s Lounge, where they receive curious looks from local patrons.

Harry Lewis arrives at the house with his girlfriend Daniella while the others are away. A charred apparition kills Harry in the cellar, prompting Daniella to flee in their car. A charred figure kills Daniella as she drives away and May feels a strange sensation at the same time while dining at the bar.

After closing time, Dave McCabe arrives at Buffalo Bill’s and kills a young waitress with a shotgun. Dave asks bartender Maddie about the conversation Anne and Paul had with May and Jacob. Dave reminds Maddie that every 30 years, the darkness in the Dagmar house requires a new family or else its evil will be unleashed on the town.

Paranormal activity continues at the house. Anne and May go into town and have an encounter with Dave McCabe.

While the women are out, Jacob convinces Paul to join him in a séance. Jacob ends up overtaken by a dark presence. Anne and May return home and witness Jacob’s possession. While dying on her kitchen floor from a stab wound, Cat McCabe calls Anne with another warning. With Jacob acting as his voice, Lassander Dagmar reveals that he was murdered by the town as a sacrifice. Jacob stabs himself in the eye with a fireplace poker and dies.

May tries to escape, but Dave McCabe greets her at the front door by shooting her in the head with his shotgun. The charred figures of Bobby and his girlfriend tell Paul and Anne to leave the house. Paul and Anne retreat to their upstairs bedroom while townspeople begin surrounding and invading the house.

Charred figures attack and kill townspeople throughout the home. Others flee. Dave confronts Dagmar and asks why the Sacchettis have been in the house for two weeks without being killed.

Anne kills Maddie the bartender. Dave confronts Paul and Annie at gunpoint. While explaining that new blood has to be given to the house every 30 years, a charred figure attacks and kills Dave. Anne and Paul are then guided to the basement by a vision of their son Bobby.

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Review:

Devastated by the unexpected death of their adult son Bobby, Anne and Paul Sacchetti retreat to a secluded old home in the snowy New England countryside of 1979 for emotional healing and a fresh start.  When things start going bump in the night, Anne thinks the spirit of her son has rejoined his family inside the former funeral home.  That is, until new neighbor Dave shares some local flavor over whiskey about the house’s haunted history hinting at a hungry darkness still skulking in the basement.

After Anne summons hippie friends May and Jacob to help with her supernatural sleuthing, a séance inadvertently summons a spirit too malevolent to be the deceased son.  What happens next digs up a centuries-old secret that the locals kept contained in the house, until that secret became reborn in blood as a deadly threat to the Sacchettis, to the house, and to the entire town.

Lather on layers of shifty townspeople in a sleepy hamlet eyeing outsiders oddly, cellar-dwelling spirits tipping photo frames while inspiring nightmares, and local legends telling tales of curses, corpse-trading, and deadly anniversary dates, and you would be excused for dismissing “We Are Still Here” as a treasure trove of tropes from horror movies past.  Yet while writer/director Ted Geoghegan’s first feature bears the shadow of a freshman filmmaker reveling overmuch in the influence of his idols, the reverence filters through confidence and through competence to turn “We Are Still Here” into a worthy contemporary chiller standing as something more meaningful than empty copycat homage.

The film’s first steps pave a path for heavy eyelids.  Beyond burning slowly, the wick occasionally flickers out completely.  A wintry Massachusetts setting establishes infectious initial atmosphere and then overlong lingering on extended shots of battered barns and babbling brooks start wearing thin the welcome.  “We Are Still Here” wants its build to whisper quietly, but many moments are missing hidden menace that might pull mounting suspense tight.

That rope sags looser with dialogue heavy on expository musings and acting tripping a step here and there.  Lisa Marie is a touch too spaced as a sensitive spiritualist and Larry Fessenden tugs harder than needed on rubber face expressions when it comes time to mimic demonic possession and Hell’s unleashed fury.  There’s also the matter of unconnected dots left behind by a bare backstory certain to elicit nonplussed reactions from those wishing for a detailed explanation of the evil.

Yet “We Are Still Here” turns enough corners when it starts sleepwalking astray to end up facing firmly forward.  Barbara Crampton makes sympathy come easy with the perpetually puffy eyes of a mother in mourning and Monte Markham is outstanding as a duplicitous town denizen hiding something sinister up his sleeve.  Their performances in particular overcome instances of unconvincing over-animation and spotty character motivations.

By the time the movie marches excitedly into its crimson-colored conclusion, renewed purpose in every element from Wojciech Golczewski’s haunting score to plentiful visual thrills reinvigorate the energy with fierce determination.  An explosive third act is drenched in as much blood as the first two are deafened by echoes of Lucio Fulci.  The finale becomes so gloriously gory that it serves as a wink (or apology) for fooling you into a false sense of being bogged down by boredom.

Trudge up the turtle track of the first two-thirds and “We Are Still Here” rewards with a frenzied flurry of force upon hitting its stride down the back slope.  It’s a hard climb to the point where the crest meets the climax, but the film looks fantastic and the scare tactics punch hard, trampling underfoot a previous pace prompting the pulling out of a pillow.

NOTE: There is a brief mid-credits scene.

Review Score:  65

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