WE ARE WHAT WE ARE is another Hollywood remake of a foreign horror flick, this time the Mexican horror movie of the same name. I was pretty much ambivalent about the original film, which I thought was overrated and rather dull, but this remake is even more boring and can be filed under 'pointless'.

The film is about a typical family hiding a dark secret in their midst. I won't spoil it, but said secret feels more than a little passé and is merely an excuse for a few gruesome moments here and there. Otherwise, the film is sheer tedium to watch, occasionally enlivened by a familiar supporting face (Michael Parks and Kelly McGillis particularly coming to mind).

The characters are hateful, the cinematography is dull and depressing with a grey, washed-out look throughout, and the whole thing has a mundane feel to it. I get that that was the intent - to make the horrific ordinary - but I do have to wonder what the point was. Writer/director Jim Mickle previously handled the much better STAKE LAND.

The Parkers are a reclusive religious family which is not unusually in this rural countryside. The mother dies after suffering some kind of medical issue. The father Frank (Bill Sage) turns over the responsibilities to the older sister Iris (Ambyr Childers). He gives her a journal that dates back to 1781 revealing a long history of family cannibalism. A bone is discovered by a local which could be human, and the mother's death raises suspicions.

It's not a scary movie. That's the first question I think of with every horror movie. This movie is doing the cannibal horror movie from the point of view of the cannibals. It's an interesting take but director Jim Mickle can't figure out how to create sympathy for the girls right off the bat. The start is very boring teasing a horrible family secret. It's not that great of a mystery. He should forget about the twist and do the reveal right off the bat.

The dominating father is the heart of the monster in this movie. There could be a lot more done with the character. The last half of the movie improves a lot. This could have been an interesting original take on the horror genre. The slow start really sinks this for me.

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.