[usr 4.5]
Set ten years after an apocalyptic event that killed millions and left the world inhabited by ghosts.
It’s sad to say that many of today’s indie thrillers all seem to run into each other. They all seem to follow the same dull routine, are filled with lifeless characters, and by the end, feel uninspiring and, well, just plain lazy. Thank God for Scott Speer. The director of “Step Up Revolution” and “Midnight Sun,” the impressive romantic tearjerker which starred Bella Thorne, knows how to tell a story and he keeps you glued to the screen, right up to the last frame. Wouldn’t it be great if all films were that interesting?
Bella Thorne stars as Veronica Calder, a high-school senior who lives her days in a trance-like state. Ten years earlier, a large explosion at a laboratory just outside Chicago, demolished many buildings and took the lives of millions along with it, including her father. The strange part is, while these people are dead and long gone, ghostly specters of them appear every day in the exact spot where they died, doing exactly what they were doing at the moment of their death. It brings to mind Hiroshima and the shadows etched in stone of so many people from the sheer force of the bomb upon detonation. Here, that aspect is taken one step further. While the specters, or “remnants” as they are known, are common and can be seen pretty much everywhere, they are non-sentient and cannot interact with a live human, or see them, they just repeat their actions that led up to their demise and then disappear until the next day at the same time.
One day, Veronica is taking a shower and when she pulls back the curtain, a strange man is standing in front of her. She falls to the ground scared, assuming the man broke into her house but upon further examination, she realizes he is a remnant, unaware of her. But when he walks to the mirror and discernibly writes something on it, and then disappears, she approaches the mirror and breathes on the glass where he wrote and the word RUN appears. In school, Veronica meets Kirk Lane (Richard Harmon), the new kid who seems to have a vested interest in remnants in general. Initially skeptical of the thought of a remnant interacting with her, he comes to her house and with the help of one of her nerdy science friends, they construct a spectralgraphic camera and manage to take a photo of the man the next day. With a clear image of his face, they look him up on the internet and discover he was a serial killer that specialized in women whose birthdays fell on a leap year, February 29th. And wouldn’t you know it, Veronica’s birthday just happens to be a few days away, on February 29th.
When they discover that the man’s name is Brian (Thomas Elms) and that he supposedly killed several women, they unearth some old photos of him where he worked at the Ashburn Laboratory in Chicago, the same lab that exploded and wiped out millions. They find out that one of the deceased women’s remnant, Claire White, can be witnessed firsthand being murdered but in order to see it, they must travel to the Ashburn Laboratory location, known as the “No-Go Zone,” or Ground Zero. They make their way there and along with a small handful of curious onlookers, watch as Claire’s remnant goes through the steps of being murdered but her killer is obscured. Afterward, Kirk recognizes an old man, Dr. Martin Steiner (Louis Herthum), the man responsible for the explosion and they confront him in an old wing of the building. He goes on to tell them that they were working on a project whereby they could resurrect dead people by using the bodies of the living but that both parties, the deceased and the living, had to share the same birthday in order for it to work. Steiner tells them that Brian was his assistant and that he believed he was trying to resurrect his victims to make amends for their deaths. Immediately after, Steiner takes his own life and both Veronica and Kirk leave and go back home.
When a handgun is found in Kirk’s school locker, he is arrested and Veronica turns to one of her teachers, Mr. Bitner (Dermot Mulroney) for help. As a teacher that specializes in remnants, she tells him that she believes one is coming after her and will attempt to kill her the next day, her birthday. He believes her and they go to her house, where her mother just happens to be out of town. Between them, they fortify Veronica’s panic room and Bitner insists that he will do everything to help keep her safe. When it comes to light that the gun found in Kirk’s locker was deliberately placed there, he is released from custody but when he discovers that Veronica and Bitner are in her house, he unearths a terrifying secret but unable to contact her as her phone is not working inside the panic room, he must make his way to her house as quickly as possible before it’s too late.
While the logic behind “I Still See You” is unrealistic, it makes for a great narrative. It takes the quintessential “ghost story” trope and literally turns it on its head. The fact that you can see the specter of a person long gone, is a terrific concept in a supernatural thriller. Instead of these apparitions coming after you in stereotypical fashion, they serve as a reminder of the people they once were and in many ways, seeing them every day, whether they were a family member, a friend, or a neighbor, is significantly scarier as there is absolutely nothing you can do about it. In the story, people walk through these remnants and they quickly disappear, only to reappear the next day in the very same spot. Take this component and add some supernatural elements to it and you have a very intriguing story, one that stays with you long after the final credits roll.
Now available on Blu-ray™ (plus Digital), DVD, and Digital HD
