We are still here

IMDb
In the cold, wintery fields of New England, a lonely old house wakes up every thirty years - and demands a sacrifice.



Rotten Tomatoes

In the cold, wintery fields of New England, a lonely old house wakes up every thirty years - and demands a sacrifice.


RogerEbert

For its first half-hour, “We Are Still Here” might give the impression that it’s one of those new-fangled “subtle” independent horror movies. You know, the kind that depends more on “mood” and “atmosphere” than on Guignol scares and shocks to reach its viewers. All of which, or, okay, several of which, are just fine. I guess. But nuance has its limits. So I’m glad to report that the subtlety of this movie’s first third is in fact a sort of feint. Once the viewer finds him or herself comfortable with the idea that it’s going for mildly-spine-tingling rather than gut-punching and eyeball-violating, all holy hell breaks loose. Which in this case turns out to be a pretty hellishly good thing.

The film is co-written and directed by first-time feature maker Ted Geoghegen. (Full disclosure: Mr. G. has a day job as a New-York-based movie publicist, and I’ve had friendly and rewarding exchanges with him in that context.) It opens in spare, sober style, with picturesque shots of snowy dales, quaint edifices, and finally a lightly-dusted country road with a car driving over the pavement. The cars occupants are Paul and Anne (Andrew Sensenig and Barbara Crampton, the latter of “Re-Animator” and “From Beyond” fame), a middle-aged couple clearly troubled by something. They’re mourning, it turns out, the loss of a son, and as they settle in to their new country home, a place they hope will bring healing, Paul is disturbed by Anne’s insistence that she feels their son’s presence in the new place.

Disquiet follows disquiet: a buttoned-up but bluff local old-timer, played by Monte Markham, shows up uninvited and lavishes tales of the house’s grisly past to Paul and Anne. Beside themselves, Paul and Anne invite their eccentric pals Jacob and May (Larry Fessenden and Lisa Marie), latter-day hippies with an interest in the occult, to come check the situation. In the meantime, Markham’s gone back to town to confer with his neighbors on how best to deal with a wrinkle in a situation that the whole burg seems to have set up to make supernatural stooges out of Paul and Anne. Long story short: their son is present in the house. But so are a lot of other extremely unfriendly beings.

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