We are Still Here

This haunted house story plays like something many years ago. That's due in part to a cast that includes Barbara Crampton (Re-Animator), Larry Fessenden (Session 9) and Monte Markham (The Love Boat). It's also due in part to the reality that writer-director Ted Geoghegan is exemplary at putting a movie together that has a look and feel like it could have played in a double feature with The Texas Chainsaw Massacre back in the day. Crampton plays a woman who moves into an old house with her husband (Paul Sacchetti) after the death of their son. Soon, Crampton notices a “presence” that she thinks is the spirit of her boy, but a visit from a mysterious old man (Markham) reveals that the house has a violent history. Then, well, things get really, really awful and bloody. The ghosts in this movie are well done, sort of a burnt up version of the ghosts from John Carpenter's The Fog. The scares are real and effective; I can honestly say that no attempt at a scare in this movie falls flat. Fessenden has one of the best possession scenes you will see this side of the original The Exorcist, and Wojciech Golczewski provides a score that ties the film together nicely. It's old-school horror done on a meager budget with an intention to scare you in real ways. Bravo. (Available for rent on iTunes, Amazon.com and On Demand during a limited theatrical release.)