We Are Still Here

Writer-director Ted Geoghegan doesn't exactly reinvent the wheel in this old-fashioned haunted-house movie, but his cheeky deployment of familiar tropes will delight genre fans. Pleasant middle-aged couple Paul and Anne Sacchetti (Andrew Sensenig and Barbara Crampton) move into a vintage house on the outskirts of a small Massachusetts town, still grieving over their son Bobby, who died in a car crash. Anne soon senses a presence in the house, which she believes to be Bobby's, and her concern is heightened after a strangely genial elderly neighbor reveals that the home has a dark history. As it turns out, the house not only hosts some otherworldly spirits (who are not necessarily friendly, as an unlucky electrician and two couples who come to visit will learn), but the townspeople also have an agenda of their own. The explanation behind all of the scary goings-on—not fully disclosed until the final credits—winds up being pretty ridiculous, but the film boasts a fair amount of genuine suspense, and the cast shines, with special kudos to Monte Markham as the weird neighbor who proves to be the key to the town's troubled past. Recommended. (F. Swietek)