Review by Tristan Bishop
You hear that sound? That’s the remake klaxon sounding. But no need to man the barricades and head for the hills just yet, as this isn’t (for once) a remake of a 70’s/80’s classic designed purely to cash in on a name – this is a remake of a recent foreign-language film remade in English to tap into a different market – much like Hammer’s remake of Let The Right One In, in fact. But unlike Let Me In, this one doesn’t blunt the edges of the original by removing the darker material.
The original We Are What We Are was made in Mexico way back in the mists of time circa 2010AD. It played various film festivals and then seemed to sink without a trace, with the opinion of most people who saw it being ‘it was alright’. Damning with faint praise indeed. So can this rework from director Jim Mickle (whose previous film Stake Land proved rather popular with horror fans, even making it into the prestigious Brutal As Hell top 20 we ran a few weeks back) make much of an impact with an English-language audience?
Our story concerns a religious family in small-town America – their neighbours tolerate them but all find them ‘a bit odd’. One day when the mother is out shopping tragedy strikes; she keels over and dies from an undisclosed illness, leaving the father (an impressively-bearded turn by Bill Sage) to care for the two teenage girls and young boy. However, the Parker family have religious traditions that move beyond praying, fasting and living a Spartan life, and as the girls start to question the rather gruesome rituals they are forced to carry out, a wedge is driven between the generations of the Parker family.
The film doesn’t really attempt to hide the nature of the Parker’s rituals, so I’ll allow myself a mild spoiler here: they kidnap, kill and eat young girls. Mickle avoids going for a big reveal here, instead making it pretty obvious from the outset as to what their secret is, and hence the tension comes from the father’s loosening hold on his brood, and whether the local police, aided by Doc Barrow (the brilliant Michael Parks), a man searching for clues to his own daughter’s whereabouts, can solve the puzzle in time. Mickle has stated his influences here were J-horror and the films of Michael Haneke, and this certainly shows in the slow, deliberate pacing of the film; the first hour goes by very slowly, building character and atmosphere, until things wind up frantically and ever more horrifically towards the climax. Thankfully this never becomes too boring as we’re treated to some luscious camerawork from Ryan Samul (who shot Mickle’s previous features) and, rather surprisingly, truly excellent performances from all involved – it’s a real pleasure to see such a great ensemble cast in a modestly-budgeted genre piece, and Parks, Sage, Kelly McGillis as a nosy neighbour, and the two girls (Julia Garner and Ambyr Childers) all pull off fantastic work here.
I do however have one gripe about the film: the ending seems a touch out of place and is at odds with the characterisation that has come before. It does work as a visual metaphor for the main themes that have been presented, but still leaves a slightly odd taste in the mouth (pun very much intended). In all fairness, however, if the rest of the film hadn’t hung together quite so well, it wouldn’t have seemed quite so out of place. If, however, you’re willing to overlook this (and the deliberately slow pace of the first half), there is an awful lot to enjoy in We Are What We Are, so tuck in at the first opportunity. Bon appetite!
We Are What We Are is out on Region 2 DVD on 3rd March 2014 from Entertainment One.