Review #8: We Are Still Here (2015)


This review was originally written in October 2016.

Day 8: We Are Still Here

My first substitute (since I don't have HBO Go, otherwise I'd be watching Deep Blue Sea) and I have to say, it really wasn't very good. With the exception of the special effects (which are actually very, very well done and creepy), this movie looked like it was made by someone who had to make a video for his Intro to Film class and was only taking the class because he needed two more credits to graduate. It has plenty of hallmarks of lazy/amateur filmmaking- establishing shots of scenery that are held for about ten seconds too long, dialogue scenes that break the 180 degree rule, an unnecessary plot dump between side characters halfway through the film, and (a popular trend among bad modern horror movies) plenty of poorly-executed jump scares.

Now don't get me wrong, there's a good way to make a jump scare and a bad way to make one- as a rule of thumb, if you intend for your jump scare to scare the audience and not the characters, then you're doing it wrong. The first half-hour of this movie has three or four jump scares that the characters aren't even aware of. (One of them even happens while the characters are asleep. Aside from being a cheap scare, what purpose could that possibly have served?)

Rating: 3/10 Conspicuous Holes in the Basement Wall

A movie I'd rather have watched: John Dies at the End

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