We Are What We Are: How A Modern Twist Changed The Cannibal Sub-Genre – Screen Rant

We Are What We Are turns the old cannibal tropes on their head with a look at modern-day Christian cannibals and their dark practices.

We Are What We Are is a 2013 horror film directed by Jim Mickle that follows the Parker family and puts a modern twist on the cannibal sub-genre of horror that proves how these movies have evolved. A reclusive and old-fashioned religious family, the Parkers find their way of life threatened when the family matriarch passes away and a storm washes evidence of their dark heritage downstream.

Starring Bill Sage (American Psycho), Julia Garner (Ozark), and Ambyr Childers (Aquarius), We Are What We Are is a modern and interesting take on the traditional cannibal film, featuring a unique twist that brings the sub-genre into the 21st century. Balancing a gloomy atmosphere with strong acting and just enough gore, the film is an interesting and effective commentary on the ravages of extreme religious observance.

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While Italian cannibal films of the 70s and 80s typically focused on primitive tribes deep in the jungle, and cannibal films of the 90s and 00s tended more towards rural hillbillies, We Are What We Are and other 21st-century cannibal films are presenting a fresh look at the sub-genre with modern themes and innovative story premises.

Cannibal horror films, a sub-genre of exploitation films, gained popularity in the 1970s and 80s and usually depicted cannibalism by primitive native tribes deep within Asian or South American rainforests. Many of these were Italian horror moviesand focused on graphic violence. In addition to the primary subject matter of cannibalism, many of these films also incorporate brutal rape, mutilation, and animal violence in order to ramp up the shock value.

The most infamous example of this sub-genre is Cannibal Holocaust, made by Ruggero Deodato in 1980; so brutal that Deodato was indicted for murder in Italy because authorities believed he had really killed actors on film. When the exploitation cannibal film trend died down in the 80s, audiences would next be introduced to cannibals in the form of rural hillbillies in 2003 with Wrong Turn and the remake of Wes Cravens The Hills Have Eyes in 2006, a new wave of the trend first started by American filmmakers in the 70s.

At the same time, a new genre of cannibal films was emerginga more cerebral, atmospheric horror than the traditional exploitation film that built itself on Alfred Hitchcocks Psycho in 1960. TheSilence of the Lambs introduced the charismatic and darkly fascinating killer, Hannibal Lecter in 1991, and though it would be a slow burn, the film would spark a trend that would come to fruition later in the 2010s.

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We Are What We Are was released in 2013 and became the first of several films in the 21st century that would take on cannibalism in a new way, using it to depict more nuanced themes and plots than savagery in the other. Using it as an allegory for intense religious devotion, this film would bring the cannibal movie into a whole new realm.The same year, the Hannibal TV series would be released, taking a fresh look at Hannibal Lecter, the infamous high-society cannibal. And then the 2010s would see a whole new resurgence of cannibal movies, but much different than those audiences had seen before.

Another movie of note in this movement is the French horror drama, Raw, released in 2016 by Julia Ducournau. It uses cannibalism as a metaphor for puberty and sexuality, specifically from a feminine point of view, in a grisly and beautiful film that truly shows the cannibal story in a whole new light.We Are What We Arecould pave the way for a brand new stripe of cannibal horror films, offering an even more chilling look at people eating people.

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Certified horror addict and linguistics nerd, Maisy has been watching, reading, and reviewing horror since she was old enough to get a library card. She is most often found hiding in the woods with her nose in a book, usually horror or weird fiction, or in her bedroom snuggling with her husband and many pets while watching horror movies or playing Skyrim - usually both.Elusive and rarely out in public, Maisy can usually be baited with cheese, punk rock, or the promise of a rousing discussion on sociolinguistics and dialectology, though she has sometimes been known to come out to explore local parks, zoos, and distilleries on occasion.

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We Are What We Are: How A Modern Twist Changed The Cannibal Sub-Genre - Screen Rant

Reviewed and Recommended by Erik Baquero