‘We Are What We Are’ Reviewed by Rick Klaw

Directed/Written by: Jorge Michel Grau
Starring: Francisco Barreiro, Alan Chávez, Paulina Gaitán, Carmen Beato, Jorge Zárate and Esteban Soberánes

In a debut feature reminiscent of the 1977 Wes Craven classic “The Hills Have Eyes,” writer-director Jorge Michel Grau offers a unique portrait of an unusual Mexican family with the disturbing and compelling “We Are What We Are.”

Following the sudden death of their patriarch/caretaker, the temperamental Patricia (Carmen Beato) and her three teenage children must fend for themselves. Father prepared the rituals and acquired the meat for this family of cannibals. Aided by his impetuous younger brother Julián (Alan Chávez) and his pragmatic sister Sabina (Paulina Gaitán), the eldest son, Alfredo (Francisco Barreiro), is now charged with this momentous task, a responsibility he seems ill suited for. Chaos and emotional turmoil follow as the family hunts for the flesh they need to survive.

Grau, winner of several awards for shorter works, populates this claustrophobic, dark reality with unsavory and unsympathetic characters. A bumbling cop (Jorge Zárate), creepy undertaker (Daniel Giménez Cacho) and an effeminate young man (Esteban Soberánes) initially appear as possible comic relief in the oppressively nihilistic film, but all quickly spiral into the inner voids of selfishness and cruelty. Even the likable Sabina descends to the depths of the familial hell. After all, it is difficult to maintain sympathy for someone after watching him or her gleefully nibble on the bloody thigh of a bound victim.

Astonishingly, despite the unpleasant premise, Grau manages to keep the bloodletting below pre-spectacle levels, rather relying primarily on shadows and innuendo with just the proper amount of shock-inducing gore, more in line with a Hitchcockian thriller than the film’s more immediate antecedents such as the “Saw” films, “The Descent” and “Hostel.” The oft-times surprising story, replete with none-too-subtle parallels to contemporary urban Mexican life, disappointedly culminates into a predictable conclusion.

Empowered by some excellent acting especially from Gaitán (“Sin Nombre”) and Barreiro (“Perpetuum Mobile”), the mesmerizing “We Are What We Are” features the arrival of a promising new talent, destined to be a prominent figure within the next generation of horror moviemakers.