We Are What We Are: I Like My Horror Films Pretty
A common complaint about American horror remakes of foreign films is how much they get watered down in the process. From The Ring to The Grudge, something about these remakes seem tamer than their original counterparts, as if either the directors or the studios were afraid to unleash their full impact on US audiences. Director Jim Mickle understands this, which is why he was hesitant to remake We Are What We Are at first. It wasn’t until he figured out a way to put his own spin on the original 2010 Mexican film that he agreed to the project. By enlisting a few of his acting heroes and his usual cast of collaborators, Mickle delivers a tense, gripping horror flick that builds to a satisfying conclusion.
The movie begins in the middle of the action and develops slowly, giving the audience time to settle in with its characters. Matriarch Mrs. Parker runs to town in the middle of a downpour. While picking up some groceries, she starts bleeding and runs out of the store, only to fall, hit her head, and die. The town doctor (Michael Parks) has to break the news to the rest of the reclusive Parker clan, including Frank (Bill Sage) and his daughters Iris (Ambyr Childers) and Rose (Julia Garner). After the funeral, Frank instructs Iris to carry out their family’s traditions as the eldest woman of the house. And their family traditions might have something to do with the great number of missing persons posters seen around town, as well as the human bones washing up downstream…
It’s important to recognize what this film is and what it isn’t. It isn’t filled with anything particularly unexpected; there are no left-field plot twists or serious jump scares. Everything about the nature of the family’s tradition and how they carry it out is telegraphed throughout the film. This doesn’t make We Are What We Are a bad film. On the contrary, the film’s strength is its slow buildup. The movie is gorgeously shot and sparsely told. There are long tracking shots of the town or the Parker’s family house. Dialogue is kept to a bare minimum, with many scenes stretching out in silence with only a thin musical track for accompaniment. Director Mickle’s previous camera work shows here; he has an eye for how to tell a story visually with few tricks or quick cuts. Having previously collaborated with his writer Nick Damici on two other projects, Mickle is able to make the most of a quiet script. The movie is slowly but perfectly paced, with enough foreshadowing and exposition to escalate the tension in all the right places.
While he would seem more of a visual director, Mickle also makes the most of his cast, which includes veteran actors such as Parks and Top Gun’s Kelly McGillis. Parks’s character is the exact opposite of the crazed madman he played in Tusk and it’s nice to see him play the good guy for once. Ultimately a movie about a family lives and dies on how well that family acts, and here too We Are What We Are delivers. Childers and Garner are perfect as sisters Iris and Rose, displaying a gravitas not normally seen in child actors. Childers in particular gives a dazzling performance. Her vulnerability in one scene with her sister is nowhere to be seen five minutes later, as she deals with an outsider. Sage is impressive as well, playing the affected Frank Parker with quiet rage.
While it won’t win over any torture porn fans, it doesn’t aspire to. We Are What We Are sets out to prove that horror films can be smart and beautiful as well as scary. On that front it succeeds.
We Are What We Are is on US Netflix. And if you’re in Canada, the 2010 original film is also available on Canadian Netflix.
We Are What We Are tl;drs
Quick summary: The Parkers keep mostly to themselves in their little mountain valley. But when their mother dies unexpectedly, it throws the family into turmoil. It falls to the eldest daughter Iris to continue the family traditions, which are more horrific than they seem on the surface.
Too many writers? Sometimes two is too many, but not in this case. Director Jim Mickle and his longtime collaborator Nick Damici worked on several projects together before this one and it shows in their tight pacing and sparse dialogue.
Recommended if you like: your horror tense and atmospheric.
Better than I expected? This is a much quieter horror movie than what I’m used to, which only helps to ratchet up the tension.
Worse than I hoped? This is very nit-picky, but whenever I looked at the lead Bill Sage, I couldn’t help but see his doppelgänger, Zack Galifianakis.
Should it be rebooted? Moot point, since this is a remake of a Mexican horror movie. There are; however, plans for a prequel and sequel in the works.
Verdict: Best watched in darkness with a pair of headphones.
Related Reading: Wiki article
