24. We Are What We Are (2013)

January 12, 2014

I feel slightly ashamed that I saw We Are What We Are before I even knew it was a remake of a Spanish movie from 2010. Normally I would avoid the American remake on principal, as was the case with Let Me In (a remake of the Swedish vampire film, Let The Right One In, that was made only 2 years after the original). I'm not a big fan of movies being remade right after they are made, especially if the only significant change comes from making it easier for people who don't want to read subtitles. I did finally watch Let Me In, and while it wasn't a bad movie, I still felt slightly dirty watching it, like I was letting down a friend.
Anyway, this isn't about either of those movies, it is about the American version of We Are What We Are, and for what it was, it was a pretty good movie. It moved a little slow in parts, but families of cannibals usually make for good entertainment. The film starts with a woman who dies mysteriously outside of a grocery store. Her husband and children try to continue life without her, with the oldest daughter assuming the responsibilities of the mother. The family has a long and sordid history of cannibalism, which has become their way of life as opposed to a strange tradition. The children are clearly uncomfortable with the way they live, and dream of leaving the small town and moving on to bigger and better things, but things like that are always easier said than done. As the town's mortician begins to uncover clues to their unsavory lifestyle from the mother's body, the father tries to keep his family together and keep everyone else from meddling in their affairs. It all culminates in a pretty brutal and shocking bloodbath which made the movie all the more entertaining.