Ted Geoghegan’s WE ARE STILL HERE makes Northern Premiere at GrimmFest 2015
Ted Geoghegan pays homage to classic shockers of the 70s/80s with his latest horror, WE ARE STILL HERE.
WE ARE STILL HERE tells the story of Anne (Barbara Crampton) and Paul Sacchetti (Andrew Sensenig), a married couple who move to a new house in the country to try and put the trauma of losing their beloved son Bobby behind them.
The scene is set in an old house in the cold, wintery fields of New England as Anne and Paul move in and slowly start to settle into their new life. However almost as soon as they arrive, Anne claims that Bobby’s spirit is present in the house and enlists the help of her friend May (Lisa Marie), a self-professed psychic and her hippie husband Jacob (Larry Fessenden) to make contact with him. As strange events begin to occur in the house, Anne and Paul’s neighbours begin to hint that the house has a dark past which wakes up every thirty years and demands a human sacrifice.
Influenced by the works of director Lucio Fulci, WE ARE STILL HERE certainly boasts similarities to THE HOUSE BY THE CEMETARY and THE BEYOND. The feature is consciously retro-in-style and looks like it was filmed in the 70s with its old, dreary set design and lack of colour. Beyond this however, the film fails to deliver.
From the title alone, it is pretty obvious where WE ARE STILL HERE is headed – a haunted house were things go bump in the night. The script is predictable and slow paced, with no real jump-shocks or quirky twists to keep you interested. I also found the characters are extremely boring with little to no dialogue in the first 5-8 minutes of the film.
What is most disappointing with WE STILL HERE is its amateurish staging. The vast majority of scenes have a wall to one side, distracting away from the action on screen. The lack of a proper back story ruins the suspense. The sequencing also jumps around a bit – one minute we’re in garden, next we’re in the pub, then we’re back in the house, then we’re in the cellar.
On the plus side, the special effects are quite good, particularly considering the film’s low budget. It is also nice to see a horror film where all of the leads are middle-aged adults (rather than screaming teenagers) headed by a cast of genre icons including Barbara Crampton and Larry Fessenden.
Overall, I was disappointed with WE ARE STILL HERE. A forgettable horror flick that isn’t worth your time.
WE ARE STILL HERE made its Northern Premiere at GrimmFest on 3 October 2015.
We Are Still Here – Official Trailer
Joanne Podmore lives life in the fast lane, literally!! By day, she faces the pressures of leading a team in sales, at the weekends, she spends time trawling the country with her husband, racing motorbikes. In between all this, Joanne races around bringing up her daughter and 2 furry children.
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