Of all the holidays celebrated worldwide, no single day is loved by the UTG staff more than Halloween. With October’s arrival, the time has finally come to begin rolling out a slew of features and special announcements we have prepared in celebration of our favorite day.

Now in its fourth year, 31 Days Of Halloween is a recurring feature that will run throughout the month of October. The goal of this column is to supply every UTG reader with a daily horror (or Halloween-themed) movie recommendation that is guaranteed to amplify your All Hallows’ Eve festivities. We’ll be watching every film the day it’s featured, and we hope you’ll follow along at home.

This year, the entire 31 Days series is dedicated to the memory of our friend, Justin Proper. We wouldn’t have a film department without him, and he specifically helped pioneer our involvement in the horror genre. Rest in peace, JP.

Day 3: We Are Still Here (2015)

There is a quiet house on the edge of a small town in rural Massachusetts that you dare not visit. It seems like any other home inside and out, but somewhere deep within the walls and floorboards resides an evil force whose thirst for human blood cannot be quenched. Every 30 years a sacrifice must be made, and when we arrive in town a new family has just moved in.

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p class=”p1″>We Are Still Here is not your typical haunted house fare. There are things that go bump in the night, as well as several unexplained occurrences, but at the heart of it all something far more sinister is afoot than you can possibly imagine. The house is not haunted as much as it is alive, and as the evil begins to reveal itself there is truly no escape from its reach. You can run, you can hide, you can even get in your car and drive away, but still the spirit of the house will follow. It has no choice. It must feed.

I spent a number of years moving from house to house with my family, and every time we arrived in a new town someone would have a tall tale to share about the home we would occupy. More often than not these stories revolved around people who had died for one reason or another, and their inability to find peace in the afterlife. I never put much merit into these tales, largely because nothing spooky or out of the ordinary happened in our homes, but somewhere deep down I found solace in the fact that the surrounding townspeople were open about the history of our land. The family in We Are Still Here are not quite as lucky, but they do receive several visits from townspeople who seem awfully curious about whether or not the new residents are enjoying their humble abode. Maybe it’s because they know the horrors that lie ahead, but maybe they’re just friendly. You will have to decide on your own.

This Halloween, there is no haunted house film I would recommend you see more than We Are Still Here. It’s an entirely original take on what may appear to some as an incredibly tired idea, and it features a third act blood bath that ranks amongst the most grisly scenes in genre fare this year. You won’t forget this film.

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James Shotwell

James Shotwell is the founder of Under The Gun Review. He loves writing about music and movies almost as much as he loves his two fat cats. He's also the co-founder of Antique Records and the Marketing Coordinator for Haulix. You should probably follow him on Twitter.

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