We Are What We Are (2013)

It's not great by any means, but it's a pretty good movie that didn't leave me filled with regret for investing time in it.

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

I watched this the other day, on Amazon Prime, with totally 'fresh' eyes - i.e. I'd never heard of it (or the original Spanish version) before and I didn't know who most of the actors were (except for Kelly McGillis). I was torn between watching this and, ironically, another film with Kelly McGillis in (The Innkeepers), but I didn't even know initially that she was in this movie too so when I first saw her in it I found it very coincidental!Anyway, I'm very glad I watched this movie. Anyone expecting a nonstop, moronic gorefest though should look elsewhere. That's NOT what I was looking for and was looking to watch something a bit more challenging, interesting and less 'lowest common denominator'.We Are What We are is a slow burner of a movie but from the get go I found it captivating, mainly thanks to the 'moody' setting, the rainy ambiance, the dark colours, etc. It's a beautifully shot movie and the actors were all very good, and I especially liked the performance of the doctor whose daughter went missing and who gradually puts two and two together to realize what became of her. The actor who played the father was also great. There are some gory moments in the movie but few enough that even fairly squeamish people should be able to watch the movie without feeling the need to flee! Having said that, my sister - who HATES scary and horror movies - would probably refuse to watch it! As the movie progressed the beginning made more sense - i.e. why the mother died the way she did and why she did what she did after leaving the store (re the flyer!).The only thing about this movie that disappointed me was the bizarre, schizophrenic, unexplained ending. It was way too far fetched and the total turnaround of the younger daughter (not so much the older daughter who is a lot more 'knowing' and calculated) from how she was shown throughout the rest of the movie was totally illogical. It just made no sense, unless she was supposed to be even more 'addled' than the older sister. Overall I really enjoyed this movie and am glad I happened to come across it quite randomly. I can definitely recommend.P.S. Some of the reviews for We Are What We are are SOOOOO detailed they're really not fair. To pretty much give away what an entire movie is about is so wrong - people need to review movies clearly and fairly without resorting to giving everything away. Personally, I think IMDb should refuse to publish such spoiler laden reviews.

The matriarch of the Parker family dies suddenly right before an important family ritual. It falls on eldest daughter Iris (Ambyr Childers) to take her mother's place and complete the ritual. Heavy rains and flooding have revealed evidence that leads to Doc Barrow (Michael Parks) investigating the Parkers and their connection to a host of missing people. This one's a really slow meditation on religion and familial authority that has an explosively gory climax. Kelly McGillis and Larry Fessenden turn up in supporting roles.

All Spoilers Ahead!Pretty standard backwards cannibalistic/murderous nuclear family story. This was a little different in that rather than the family being mutant deformed creeps living in caves or off the beaten track (TCM, The Hills Have Eyes et al), this movie took aim at a more home-schooled Bible belter kind of target.There were some pretty big plot holes. For instance, the police chief was spectacularly absent. (Seriously, it took the town *doctor* to figure out there had been an inordinate number of missing people in the area?) And the question of how the family managed to perpetuate its line through several centuries was completely unexplained. (Normal genre M.O. would probably be to chain up women in the basement, have the patriarch impregnate them, then kill and eat the mother after delivering. but none of that was explained or demonstrated.) There were some scene-setting anachronisms: hair & styling were kind of all over the place; the doctor records his observations on cassette tapes, but people have cell phones; etc.But overall it was a pretty decent little film and the acting was okay. The father was actually a pretty stock-issue backwoods Bible thumper but the kids weren't bad. One thing I will give it credit for, the scene on the table at the end was good. That scene was quite reminiscent of Beatrice Dalle's Coré in Trouble Every Day -- though far less disturbing!

I would not call it a horror movie even if there were some bloody parts but it was for sure a good movie. Starting slow and building the suspense up every minute. I really enjoyed watching this movie. I guess they put it in the horror genre because some people might get offended by the story but I wasn't at all shocked. I'm pretty sure there must be sicko's like this in our miserable rotten world. If you want to watch a nice thriller with a good plot then you must for sure watch this movie. You won't regret it. Very underrated movie to me when I see the score he only gets. Compared to some really bad movies that still get like 4 stars it goes beyond my comprehension that this one doesn't even get 6 stars. Well I guess that it's every man to his taste.