After their vehicle breaks down while travelling across America, three 20-something friends, Fisher (Dallas Hart), Randy (Frankie Wolf) and Luke (Xavier J. Watson), stumble upon a family farmhouse, headed by Howard (Bruce Davison), a fervidly religious husband and father who lives there with his wife, Betty (Arianne Zucker), and two daughters, Maggie (Holly Tailor) and Sarah (Rita Volk). The friends are invited to stay while Howard fixes their vehicle but when the repair is delayed and the visit extended, the three guests wonder whether their presence is being purposely prolonged.

Writer/directors Brad Helmink and John Rauchelbach (The Lodge) present a serene, golden-lit world which seethes with unease and burgeoning menace as the story progresses. Characters and relationships are efficiently set then slyly sown nuances augment tension as discrepancies shape suspense. Fissures form between friends and family when it’s obvious the three friends don’t share the same religious views, and when Howard’s daughters start expressing carnal interests in the visitors, their father steps in to re-enforce the family values and correct the incongruities.

Bruce Davison delivers a career-best performance, bolstered by a solid supporting cast which, when combined with Helmink and Rauchelbach’s film-making savvy, makes We Still Say Grace prevail as an often excruciatingly creepy, slow-burning horror. Disappointingly, it doesn’t quite deliver the gut punch frights and apt pace in the second half to intensify the tension and up ante enough to make it more than just sufficient. The story slackens and glides when it should hasten, however, Helmink and Rauchelbach retain an unsettling atmosphere with Hitchcockian cogs which slink under the skin enough to rankle but not frighten.

Release Date: May 3rd