Andrew Gold We Are What We Are is a brooding slow burn with little to no jump scares and disturbing subject matter, specifically cannibalism. Believe me when I say I really wanted to love this movie. Sadly, the first two acts of this movie are a chore. I fell asleep the first time around the 20-minute mark my first watchthrough. It begins with a family tragedy and shows their subsequent grieving period. This family has a secret but it's established early on so we're just watching them do stuff. It's a way to develop the characters and set the mood, sure, but it completely failed to grip my attention. You know where the movie is going right off the bat. It shows its hand too quickly and doesn't gain any momentum until the final act.The third act is enjoyable, though. It's thrilling, tense, borderline silly at times but all in good fun. The problem is whether it's worth the wait. Like waiting in line for five hours for a roller coaster ride and you finally get on and have a good time, but was the wait really worth the few moments of enjoyment? Honestly, it's entirely up to you. The movie certainly has its perks. The acting is excellent across the board, the daughters in particular, and the cinematography is superbly crafted to give you the eerie vibe necessary to pull off this subject matter. Production value wise, We Are What We Are is quality stuff.I'd recommend it to horror buffs, specifically those who prefer a slow burn over cheap jump scares. We Are What We Are just happens to be the particular slow burn that's slow to the point that it produces more of a flicker than a flare.

Poptart_Psycho Jim Mickle remakes the Mexican horror thriller very well. Its nice to see a Gothic inspired modern day horror with the market going overboard with torture and found footage movies... it does take a while to get into things but the last 45 minutes gives you a great twist you didn't see coming So the movie is based around the Parker family, a reclusive family in small town America living in Victorian values. Mother is unfortunately killed, pretty daughters Iris and Rose, young Rory and the matriarch father Frank.A storm has just started to hit the small town, whilst out getting groceries the mother ignores warnings and is consumed by the storm. Having to survive the sisters take on their mothers religious duties whilst keeping an eye on their brother.As the storm over the next few days is pouring bone fragments are making there way down stream and into the hands of Doc Burrows, meanwhile a local girl has been reported, one of many over the past few years.The police now on the trail are searching around the vast grounds of the Parkers home, one copper gets close to one of the sisters which will always be a bad idea. The family secret is about to be exposed after many years which is sending Frank into a frenzy.The ending has a twist I wasn't expecting at all and after you find that out the movie all makes sense If you want something different, a break away from Hollywood fails of horrors or sequels this is one to watch, little gore but more thriller.

NateWatchesCoolMovies Jim Mickle and Nick Damici are a writer/director team that have greatly impressed me with their first three features, all of which have been absolute winners. Their mournful post apocalyptic vampire flick Stake Land, and their pulpy murder mystery Cold In July, both of which I'll be reviewing soon, were incredible. Also incredible is their slow burning, brutal cannibal family drama We Are What We Are. Instead of an all out backwoods gore fest, we are treated with a moody, muted slow burn of a horror thriller that gets under your skin with a hot poker, and digs at our primal fears, taking sacred concepts like family and loyalty, and turning them on their head. It honestly asks what a family like this might look like in the real world, and not in the realm of endless Wrong Turn sequels. In small rural town in Midwestern America, a secluded family lives out their ages old family traditions, just below the surface of the town's awareness, and just outside the suspicion of the good people they live around. They are a kind, devoted bunch, with one exception: every once in a while they brutally kidnap, murder and eat someone from the area, ritualistically. @Bill Sage, an actor of tremendous courage who has bravely taken on some supremely dark roles in his career, is bone deep creepy as the patriarch of this clan. He presides over the, with an iron fisted loyalty to their tradition, and a cold blooded desire to keep it going, and a secret. Amber Childers and Julia Garner play his two daughters, just coming into their own, their minds maturing to a point where they start to question this twisted doctrine they were raised with. They are both phenomenal, intuitive young actresses who throw themselves headlong into these roles with committed intensity and savage grace. Their younger brother, about 5 or 6, is too young too fully comprehend the severity of their situation and seems lost. When one of the family's previous victim's remains are discovered by the town doctor (Michael Parks), suspicions arise and the plot kicks into suspense mode. The remains just happen to be that of Doc's daughter who disappeared a year back. From there the plot thickens like the clotted blood they serve as thanksgiving dinner. Parks is a very underrated actor who's just coming back into the foray these days, and he knocks it out of the park here, displaying aching hurt and dogged determination. This is above all a suspense film, and when the tension ratchets up in the third act it becomes pretty much the best film of the genre from 2013. The final act has some bloodcurdling surprises and shocking violence that will stagger you. It's never gratuitous though. It's all part of its necessary chain of events. It hardens to the days in the 70's when horror was a moody, atmospheric genre, more concerned with slowly, subtly getting into your head, rather than the majority of shock tactics and senseless bloodletting we see these days. If you miss fright flicks like that, this ones for you.

Claudio Carvalho The Parker family is fasting following and old family tradition. When the matriarch, Emma Parker (Kassie DePaiva), goes to a hardware store in the nearby small town during a rainstorm, she does not feel well, has an accident and dies. Her husband Frank Parker (Bill Sage), who is the owner of a trailer camping area, grieves her death and forces her older daughter Iris (Ambyr Childers) to assume the responsibility for keeping the family tradition, feeding them and nursing her teenage daughter Rose (Julia Garner) and her young brother Rory (Jack Gore). He also gives Emma's journal to Rose with the history of their family to learn their traditions. Meanwhile Sheriff Meeks (Nick Damici) and Deputy Anders (Wyatt Russell) are investigating cases of missing persons in the skirts of the town. Doc Barrow (Michael Parks), who lost one daughter that has disappeared, is carrying out Emma's autopsy and finds an important discovery that will connect the missing cases with the Parker family. What is the tradition of the Parker family? "We Are What We Are" is a depressing and creepy remake of a 2010 Spanish movie "Somos lo que hay". The story is developed in slow pace in a depressive atmosphere and the acting is top-notch. Unfortunately the screenplay discloses the mystery too soon but the gore conclusion is gruesome and hard to be seen. My vote is seven.Title (Brazil): "Somos o Que Somos" ("We Are What We Are")