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★★★★
Directed by: Lucy Luna
Written by: #LucyLuna
Starring: #ChristinMuuli, #OrlandoPineda, #EstebandelaIsla, #NunuRoca, #CaioFernandesAlfieri, #TessaScott
A clever and genuinely chilling short horror film from filmmaker Lucy Luna, We're All Here is a modern ghost story that plays to its strengths and modern sensibilities.
Christin Muuli plays Anika Mills, a podcaster originally from New York who moves to L.A. to escape the crowds. Lured by the cheap rent on a two-bed apartment (the previous tenant experienced some drama, shall we say), Anika wastes little time getting set up and recording a new episode on an old analogue machine she has acquired. However, strange things start to occur when her doorbell rings. Fortunately, the tape doesn't stop rolling and we hear everything.
Whilst We're All Here is certainly a ghost story, it also plays on the home invasion genre well too. There is a little hint of The Strangers about this movie that makes it terrifying in places, and much like that film, Luna's piece doesn't overcommit to the audience. Few locations are used to ensure the atmosphere isn't lost, the dialogue is well paced to allow the terror to creep in, and the lighting is dimmed just right to create a sense of vulnerable isolation.
Muuli is terrific on screen, coping well with the lack of physical actors to interact with. Luna gets a lot out of her by having the scenes feel intimately framed when she is recording her podcast, especially when something incredibly weird happens to Annika (which I won't spoil).
Further development of the narrative would have been nice, perhaps giving the audience more of a backstory for Annika. However, there is something sumptuous about the neat and tidy approach to this story that makes it gripping, and even scarier for the viewer. There are light touches on some interesting themes, such as modern isolation and how this makes us vulnerable even though we feel we are surrounded by people all the time, or the way we might sacrifice our own safety to save a few bucks (Annika is thrilled at her low rent in an expensive city). Either one of these could have been developed further by adding only a couple of minutes to the svelte 7-minutes of We're All Here but I understand why the #filmmaker may have opted for a more compact piece to optimise the horror and reflect the audience's attention span.
Excellent #filmmaking and scary storytelling, Lucy Luna delivers a chilling modern ghost story that taps into something genuinely terrifying about the way we live now.
Watch the official short movie trailer below.
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