Director: Jorge Michel Grau
Writer: Jorge Michel Grau (Screenplay)
Starring: Carmen Beato, Alan Chavez, Francisco Barreiro, Paulina Gaitan, Daniel Gimenez Cacho, Humberto Yanez
Plot: When the patriarch of the family passes away, the teenage children must take responsibility for the family chores: the preparation of the rituals, the hunting and putting the all-important meat on the table. These newfound responsibilities are even more daunting, however, when you live in the city and happen to be a family of cannibals.
Tagline – Young. Wild. Hungry.
Runtime: 1 Hour 30 Minutes
There may be spoilers the rest of the review
Verdict: Darkly Disturbing Cannibal Movie
Story: We Are What We Are starts when the father of the family dies, Patricia (Beato) the mother of the family must get her sons Alfredo (Barreiro) and Julian (Chavez) to take over the business while daughter Sabina (Gaitan) steps up with the household responsibilities.
The family are cannibals and now one of the brothers will need to step up Alfredo is the eldest while Julian is the one that will take the chances when they are looking for their next meal, hunting the city for the easiest target to follow their ritual.
Thoughts on We Are What We Are
Characters – Patricia is the mother of the family she has seen her husband uses whores for the food, once he has died she wants her sons to take over and not use whores for their rituals. Alfredo is the eldest son, he is quiet compared to the others calculated and isn’t fully behind taking over in the same way Julian is. Julian is the younger brother, he has a short temper which has seen him get in trouble before, Sabina is the daughter of the family, she pushes Alfredo to take over knowing they need him to keep the family ticking.
Performances – The whole cast in this film are wonderful, we see the confliction, the determination and the belief in every action they go through, each cast member makes their character stand out in each scene too.
Story – The story of cannibals is one we have see a few times, we usually watch how the innocent must learn to fight back against them (Texas Chainsaw Massacre) we have seen the high class elude the law (Hannibal trilogy) now we get to see how one family operates in a busy city full of potential victims and how they select the victims along with how they operate when the leader of the family dies. The story has a disturbing factor about it from start to finish and following the villainous figures of this family brings a fresh spin to the cannibal genre.
Horror – The horror in this film comes from seeing how the cannibals operate, what they are planning and how they go about it, it feels disturbing in each scene.
Settings – The film is set in Mexico in a busy city which shows us how easy to find victims can be to get away with it too.
Special Effects – The effects are used well to not show us too much directly to the camera, this can both frustrate or keep things interesting as we don’t know the complete truth.
Scene of the Movie – The final act.
That Moment That Annoyed Me – It would have been nice to see how the father operated in preparation for the ritual.
Final Thoughts – This is a disturbing horror that brings new life to the cannibal genre.
Overall: Cannibal delight.
Rating
