We Are What We Are

It’s a movie about cannibals. It’s a real shame if that is all you know about the new thriller form director Jim Mickle (Stake Land) because it will either keep you from seeing the movie (Ugh! How gross!) or set you expectation way too high (Yes! That’s gross!). The fact is that We Are What We Are is a gripping thriller with surprisingly less gore than you would expect (or fear) and a lot more chills and thrills than most so-called ‘horror’ movies supply. Sure, it’s about cannibals, but it’s also about family, faith, fear and overcoming that fear. The film stars Bill Sage as Frank Parker, the taciturn patriarch of a backwoods family with an unusual family tradition: Once a year they kill and butcher a passing stranger and make them into a stew. The reason they do it is much more believable, and therefore much scarier, than your usual horror movie explanations, and it’s best to let the movie reveal it to you than spoil it in a review.