A film written and directed by a publicist? Is that possible? Well, yeah, especially when that person has written some pretty decent cult genre films prior, including 2008’s slasher film, Sweatshop, listed as the best horror film of the year by the review website, Horrorphilia. Now in his directorial debut, Ted Geoghegan has put together the film, We Are Still Here, a supernatural bloodbath that has gotten great reviews from the Los Angeles Times, AV Club, Rex Reed, Entertainment Weekly, Variety, and the Village Voice.

When middle aged couple Paul and Anne leave the city and move to a rural town in Massachusetts, they expect to escape the memories of the death of their adult son from a tragic car accident. But odd things begin to happen in their new home. The boiler seems to be overheating and leaving off an awful smell, and Anne begins to think she feels the presence of the ghost of their son in the house. However, is their something more involved with the oddities in their new life?

The film takes place in 1979 which fits perfectly with the throwback experience to the B-films of the era including those from Europe. Refreshingly, the cast feels more realistic being middle aged and having none of the supermodel twenty-somethings cast as teenagers. With a brooding first two acts and a final act that heads straight down to grindhouse madness, We Are Still Here feels oddly fresh. Comparisons to Ti West’s House of the Devil seem apt. Dark Discussions, with author Kristi Petersen Schoonover joining in, discuss their thoughts.