Retro is definitely the word for Ted Geoghegan's haunted house tale: its more seventies than Burt Reynolds in a tube top. Fortunately, old school fits just as well. A middle-aged couple, still mourning the death of their adult son in a car accident, try to start their lives over again by moving into a secluded old house in an out-of-the-way town in new England that pretty much defines the word godforsaken. Needless to say, the house has a horrifying history, and Paul and Anne quickly find that theyre sharing their home with the spiritual equivalent of crackheads in the basement. The house wakes up every three decades: in order to persuade it back to its fitful rest, a sacrifice must be made, and the local townsfolk will do pretty much anything to make sure that this takes place on schedule. Filmed on a small budget and not remarkably original in its central conceits, by rights We Are Still Here should be a dull exercise in rehashing genre tropes, the cinematic equivalent of a TV dinner. Its to Geoghegan's everlasting credit that this is resolutely not the case: his film is bloody terrifying, each overdone, overcooked idea and image boiled down and scaled back to its essence and then flung into our faces, red hot and writhing. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FDJbCMvv9IU Gorgeous widescreen cinematography gives the snowbound location shots a harsh, desolate, portentous vibe. The whole film looks fantastic, in fact: and the performances are nothing less than perfect, each member of the cast seemingly determined to show more commitment than the last. Pride of place has to go to then seventy-nine year old character actor Monte Markham, a brilliant veteran of film and television whos clearly having so much fun in the most entertaining role in the film that he effortlessly outacts the rest of the cast. Supposedly intended as a tribute to horror legend Lucio Fulcis unofficial Gates Of Hell trilogy - City Of The Living Dead, The Beyond and The House By The Cemetary - We Are Still Here is a remarkable film considering the limitations that Geoghegan was working under. It starts slowly, as it should, the fear ratcheting up following an ill-advised and abortive attempt at a seance. More and more things begin bumping in the night until at long last all Hell breaks loose - pretty much literally - in the final act, the angry, charred dead terrifying enough to satisfy even the most jaded of modern horror fans.
Professional writer, punk werewolf and nesting place for starfish. Obsessed with squid, spirals and story. I publish short weird fiction online at desincarne.com, and tweet nonsense under the name Jack The Bodiless. You can follow me all you like, just don't touch my stuff.
