We Are What We Are (2013)

Directed by: Jim Mickle
Country: USA

Movie Review: Jim Mickle’s third feature film, “We Are What We Are”, gives continuity to the interesting experiences on horror/thriller that characterized “Mulberry Street” and “Stake Land”. Actually, the object of this review is much darker and moody than the two mentioned before. The story starts with the death of a woman whose body, when autopsied by Doc Barrow (Michael Parks), revealed to suffer from a very rare disease mostly present in particular tribes. This woman left a husband, the rigorous Frank Parker (Bill Sage) who also presents symptoms of sickness, and three children, little Rory (Jack Gore), the sensitive and angelical Rose (Julia Garner), and fearless Iris (Ambyr Childers). The family acts in a very reserved way, hiding a dark secret carried for long years. All this coincides with the discovery of human bones that are coming to surface after a big storm. The authorities believe they can be from one of the three girls who, in a span of 20 years, disappeared in town. Frank’s sense of family and tradition falls into madness and the story, in its final minutes, ends up in intensive gore, which impressed me somehow. Jim Mickle’s stupendous way of filming enhances the obscure atmosphere, creating a few mesmerizing images. The plot is surprising and its execution was able to extract all the coldness, agony, and suffering from the characters. With the sentence ‘It is with love that I do this. God’s will be done.’ as background, “We Are What We Are” is not so frightful as it could be, but surely is psychologically disturbing in many ways.