This is like a mediocre-to-bad episode of the TV show "Supernatural," minus the Winchesters, drawn out to movie length and with movie-length expectations. Bad direction, bad acting, lame effects, stupid backstory. I just don't know what else to tell you. Don't watch it.
I watched because some Paste Magazine article listed it as 79th best horror movie of all time, and said that it might have been the single most terrifying movie of 2015. What utter nonsense. "We are Still Here" is really, really bad. I don't need to give spoilers. But the entire premise is absurd, dumber than most campfire ghost stories. It's poorly written, poorly explained, almost no internal logic. And the effects are laughably bad. Jaw-droppingly bad. Throughout the movie one has no idea what can explain the fiery "theme" of the special effects. They're not explained by the script. After the movie has ended, the closing credits roll against the backdrop of old newspaper headlines and articles that could give maybe a 20% explanation of what had happened during the film... but they come after it's over! And they only explain 20%! And we don't care at any rate!
Hopefully that explains why the writing is bad (bad acting as well). As for the direction, early on there are these tiny, manufactured jump-scares where the sound or a little movement tell you that you're supposed to be frightened, but the story and action haven't warranted that reaction. As the movie progresses, the director starts relying on the jaw-droppingly bad effects, and that doesn't improve matters at all.
I'm guessing that they cut some pretty relevant backstory material for the sake of brevity, without realizing that now the story logic wouldn't make sense. One review mentioned Lovecraftian themes: um, no, except maybe the mention of Essex. If there was supposed to be something Lovecraftian, maybe that's part of what got cut. But you can't just slop some stuff together and expect to be praised.
Look elsewhere.
I watched because some Paste Magazine article listed it as 79th best horror movie of all time, and said that it might have been the single most terrifying movie of 2015. What utter nonsense. "We are Still Here" is really, really bad. I don't need to give spoilers. But the entire premise is absurd, dumber than most campfire ghost stories. It's poorly written, poorly explained, almost no internal logic. And the effects are laughably bad. Jaw-droppingly bad. Throughout the movie one has no idea what can explain the fiery "theme" of the special effects. They're not explained by the script. After the movie has ended, the closing credits roll against the backdrop of old newspaper headlines and articles that could give maybe a 20% explanation of what had happened during the film... but they come after it's over! And they only explain 20%! And we don't care at any rate!
Hopefully that explains why the writing is bad (bad acting as well). As for the direction, early on there are these tiny, manufactured jump-scares where the sound or a little movement tell you that you're supposed to be frightened, but the story and action haven't warranted that reaction. As the movie progresses, the director starts relying on the jaw-droppingly bad effects, and that doesn't improve matters at all.
I'm guessing that they cut some pretty relevant backstory material for the sake of brevity, without realizing that now the story logic wouldn't make sense. One review mentioned Lovecraftian themes: um, no, except maybe the mention of Essex. If there was supposed to be something Lovecraftian, maybe that's part of what got cut. But you can't just slop some stuff together and expect to be praised.
Look elsewhere.