VOD Review: We Are Still Here (2015)

We Are Still Here is sitting at an impressive 90% Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes, and practically every review of the film that we've come across has been glowing, citing it as a fantastic little throwback to the days of 70's & 80's Horror.

Everyone seems to love it... so why in the hell did we find it so damn underwhelming?

We love Barbara Crampton, and have since we were kids and she was starring in such classic 80's flicks as Re-Animator and From Beyond, to name a few. We're also big fans of Larry Fessenden, a veritable journeyman of Genre flicks since the turn of the century.

So what the hell, man? We should have loved this flick, or at least liked it a whole lot more than we did. Not that the movie was bad at all; on the contrary, it was a well-made little Haunted House flick that had a fun vibe about it. It just didn't do it for us.

I really don't know. Sometimes, we just don't "feel" a movie like everyone else does, which really sucks, because this is one movie that we were almost positive that we were going to love.

After the tragic death of their son, Anne and Paul move to a small New England town, because that's apparently what couples in Horror movies do when they're trying to cope with tragedy. Sure, the house is haunted, but that doesn't mean it's not a nice place to live, especially since Anne is convinced that it's their late son Bobby who is doing the haunting. (It's not though.)

NOT BOBBY.

The real problem is that in addition to their new home being haunted by a group of pissed-off ghosts, the town and it's folk are just as creepy. They have secrets, you see, and they're the kind of secrets that kill! We're being purposefully vague here, because we don't want to spoil the movie's twists and turns for you. Trust us, it's better that way.

THIS GUY RIGHT HERE...

Suffice it to say that it's not long before Anne and Paul (and a few of their closest friends) are pulled into a supernatural land war, where the ghosts want to evict the living from their home, and lay claim to it for themselves! Burnt vengeance ensues.

THEY ARE STILL HERE... AND THEY WANT YOU TO LEAVE!

It looks like we're in the minority on this one, but We Are Still Here did not blow us away like we expected it too. It wasn't a bad movie at all, it just didn't click for us. Was it scary? It had a few creepy parts throughout. Was it fun? Sure, there were some fun and campy parts, although most of it felt forced to us. Was it good? It wasn't bad. We can at least say that much.

The movie started off strong, building up a quietly eerie atmosphere, but to us, it never really got going. It was almost creepy, but then it wasn't. It tried to be humorous, but it didn't really work all that well. It was a more than familiar story that moved slow, and didn't really kick into any sort of gear until the last 30 minutes or so. Barbara Crampton and Larry Fessenden did a good job with their roles, but the rest of the cast felt out of place to us. I don't know. Maybe we just watched it at the wrong time.

Our feelings for this one are confused at best.

WAS THIS SUPPOSED TO BE SCARY, OR FUNNY?

On the plus side, the look of the movie is great, as we're suckers for quiet, snowy settings. We also really loved everything involving the Dagmar family. They looked all creepy and burnt (thanks to some impressive practical FX work), and they provided plenty of chilling moments throughout.

We also liked how the movie ramped up towards the end, and finished with a crazy, action-filled climax. No matter what we thought about the movie overall, it absolutely delivered a strong conclusion.

STILL BEAUTIFUL AFTER ALL OF THESE YEARS.

A lot of people are really going to enjoy this movie, and we totally get it: it's got a great atmosphere, it's creepy at the right times, and it boasts a likable cast doing a pretty good job with their characters... it just didn't resonate for us in the way that we had hoped it would. This is one movie where we have to recommend that you see it and judge it for yourself, despite our feelings about it. You are probably going to like it a lot more than we did.

C+

We Are Still Here is available now on VOD, and is in Limited Theatrical release.

We are Still Here? More like We Are Still Hot, am I right?