Movies
[SXSW ’15 Review] Slow Creeper ‘We Are Still Here’ Delivers Ghostly Chills
New England ghost stories have a distinct feel to them, like they’re 30 degrees cooler than tales told around campfires in the rest of the country. The weight of history has a lot to do with it along with the fact that New England falls and winters look like no other. The atmosphere is chillier and the branches are more jagged, making it the perfect backdrop for Ted Geoghegan’s feature directorial debut We Are Still Here.
Following the tragic death of their teenage son Bobby, grieving couple Paul (Andrew Sensenig) and Anne (Barbara Crampton) move to a secluded home in the quiet New England countryside. Paul is fervent about starting over, but Anne is having difficulties letting go of her son. She laments for him over old photos and sees shadows of him everywhere. The house’s darkness begin to close in on the couple. Desperate to learn the secrets of her new home, Anne asks her physic friend May (Lisa Marie) and her husband Jacob (Larry Fessenden) to visit and see what readings she picks up. Are the disturbances in the house the spirit of Bobby following his parents or something more sinister?
We Are Still Here is a masterfully crafted slow creeper that knows when to ratchet up the tension and release. There are traditional jump scares here and there, but more heavily the horror relies on thick atmosphere and the unknown of what’s at the bottom of the basement steps. Towards the end, Geoghegan revs the terror up for a vigorous final act that leaves the wooden walls dripping red. These quiet moments of dread are very palpable, the only problem is that when the spirits (there are glimpses of them in the trailer) show themselves, they visually aren’t all that interesting. The effect they have on people is real nasty but they just don’t look very gripping and have a dull CGI gloss to them. As far as plot goes, there’s really only a thin trace of one here. The house is evil, Paul and Anne are grieving, and that’s really it. Having something more tangible at its core would’ve accented We Are What We Are‘s horror a great deal.
The final 10 minutes are chaos, in a good way. Geoghegan lets loose and delivers a satisfying and chilling climax while balancing the gore and tension nicely. It comes close to going off the rails, but as I mentioned earlier, the director knows when to pull back. The awesome set pieces just come one after another.
Crampton and Sensenig make for a believable couple. They’re both wounded and dealing with it in different ways. The compassion between them is there but it’s been severely crippled and sometimes it’s heartbreaking to watch Anne refuse to let go and move on. Crampton’s been wise in her genre revival roles the past few years (You’re Next, Lords of Salem) and with We Are Still Here the seasoned actress excels. As always, Larry Fessenden delivers a rock solid performance with finely tuned comedic beats. He gets to have a lot of fun later in the film, but you’ll just have to see that for yourself.
After amassing heaps of writing and producing credits, Geoghegan delivers a solid directorial debut with We Are Still Here. Ripe with tension and ghostly atmosphere, it’s one of the big horror flicks to look for coming out of SXSW this year.
The holiday weekend means a light week for new horror releases, but it does bring the return of Dark Castle Entertainment to select theaters. It’s being joined by 6 new horror movies.
Here’s all the new horror releasing June 29, 2026 – July 3, 2026!
For daily reminders about new horror releases, be sure to follow @HorrorCalendar.
You wished for it. The highest-grossing horror movie of the year (so far), Curry Barker’s Obsession, arrived on Digital on June 30.
In Curry Barker’s theatrical debut Obsession, after breaking the mysterious One Wish Willow to win his crush’s heart, a hopeless romantic finds himself getting exactly what he asked for but soon discovers that some desires come at a dark, sinister price.
Michael Johnston (“Teen Wolf”), Inde Navarette (“Superman & Lois”), Cooper Tomlinson (“That’s a Bad Idea,” Milk & Serial), Megan Lawless (The Death That Awaits), and Emmy Award-nominee Andy Richter (“Conan,” Elf) star.
Based on a story by director James Kondelik (Behind The Walls) and a screenplay by Canadian writer Victor Rose, survival thriller Pitfall headed home to Digital on June 30. Family is murder in this Cineverse release.
In Pitfall, a young man becomes separated from his friends in the woods and plunges into a ten-foot pit lined with spikes, impaling his leg and leaving him helpless. As reality sinks in and his situation grows dire, he realizes the fall wasn’t an accident.
The film stars Richard Harmon (Final Destination: Bloodlines), Alexandra Essoe (The Pope’s Exorcist), and UFC champion Randy Couture (The Expendables) as the ruthless killer who stalks his prey in the woods. Marshall Williams (The Ice Road), Jordan Claire Robbins (The Umbrella Academy), and Matt Hamilton (Murder for Sale) also star.
The Amityville IP leans into Jaws with Amityville Shark House, just in time for the Fourth of July holiday too, as it released on Digital June 30.
Will Collazo Jr. (Amityville Thanksgiving) and Shawn C. Phillips (Amityville Karen) co-direct from a script they wrote with Julie Anne Prescott.
In the movie, after discovering an ominous shark idol hidden beneath the decaying floorboards, Richard unknowingly awakens an ancient and savage force. As the entity begins to merge with him, a quiet coastal town descends into blood-soaked chaos.
With each victim claimed, the monstrous predator grows stronger, fueling a cult’s belief that their dark god has been reborn. Now, the race is on to stop the carnage before evil consumes everything in its path.
Phillips and Prescott also star alongside Tasha Tacosa, Maritza Brikisak, Gigi Gustin (The Retaliators), Adam Marino, and Carl Solomon.
Available on Digital, Blu-ray, and DVD as of June 30 is Jacked, directed by John Fucile from a script he co-wrote with Simon Fraser.
The synopsis: “Set in the summer of 1987, JACKED follows two small-town teenagers whose day at the lake turns into a fight for survival after their car breaks down and they encounter a violent stalker.”
Marla Jean Robison, Tom Koch, Anthony Cipriani, Wynn Reichert, Kam Perez and Bella Marie star.
Get ready to work up a killer sweat and maybe spill some blood with Slashercise, a workout meets slasher hybrid that arrived exclusively on Bloodstream on July 1.
Written and directed by Ama Lea (Deathcember), the retro-styled feature follows “a masked killer known only as Meathead as he stalks the fitness clubs of Los Angeles, turning workout sessions into blood-soaked nightmares. As the city’s top trainers are picked off one by one, a group of determined fitness fanatics must fight back before they become the next bodies on the mat.”
Vanessa Decker (Stiletto), John Bloom (The Last Drive-In With Joe Bob Briggs), Spencer Charnas (Ice Nine Kills), Sarah French (Blind), Kelli Maroney (Night of the Comet), Sarah Nicklin (V/H/S/Halloween), Diana Prince (The Last Drive-In With Joe Bob Briggs), Jared Rivet (The Once and Future Smash), Felissa Rose (Sleepaway Camp), Tiffany Shepis (Victor Crowley), and Lisa Wilcox (A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master) star.
After a record-breaking box office run, A24 and director Kane Parsons’ feature debut is heading back to theaters with bonus footage. AMC Theatres is unleashing Backrooms: Everything Must Go Editiontoday, July 3.
In the film written by Will Soodik, the owner of Cap’n Clark’s Ottoman Empire discovers a strange doorway in the basement of the furniture showroom. He sets out to explore the mysterious, liminal space, walking headfirst into a creepypasta nightmare.
Chiwetel Ejiofor and Renate Reinsvestar.
AMC describes this release as a “theatrically exclusive post-credit” with additional footage from Kane Parsons. Expect 16 minutes of bonus footage, with the new version clocking in at 2 hours and 6 minutes.
The Last Exorcism director Daniel Stamm and Dark Castle Entertainment are back with Lockbox, in select theaters July 3. It adapts Soren Narnia‘s Knifepoint Horror Podcast story “Winthrop” by Emmy-winning playwright Justin Yoffe.
In Lockbox, “Seeking peace after her mother’s death, Ellen retreats to a rural town and takes in her severely traumatized cousin Winthrop. Their fragile domestic balance shatters when an erratic neighbor warns that Winthrop is dangerous. As strange phenomena escalate, Ellen must put everything on the line to defend Winthrop from a dangerous otherworldly entity determined to track him down.”
Lou Taylor Pucci (Touch Me, Evil Dead), Carla Gugino (The Haunting of Hill House, Gerald’s Game, The Fall of the House of Usher) and Katharine Isabelle (Ginger Snaps, Backrooms) star.
This week’s new release roundups are presented by Lockbox.
Be careful who you let in. Carla Gugino and Lou Taylor Pucci star in Lockbox, only in select theaters this Friday. Get tickets.
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