We Are What We Are review

Keeping cannabalism in the family in this Mexican horror...

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Cannibalism runs in the family in Jorge Michel Grau’s intelligent but underwhelming social-realist horror.

With the clan’s patriarch and provider gone, son Alfredo (Francisco Barreiro) is forced to kidnap prostitutes for his mum and siblings to snack on.

Alas, they’re a remote, dislikeable bunch, and while Grau manages several stabs of grim poetry – Alfredo’s fingerprints smeared on dirty glass signalling the dying of old ways – it’s a sullen effort, shot in muted ochre tones and only occasionally sparking to life through slashes of violence.

Actress Carmen Beato makes one mean mama, though.

Freelance Writer

Matt Glasby is a freelance film and TV journalist. You can find his work on Total Film - in print and online - as well as at publications like the Radio Times, Channel 4, DVD REview, Flicks, GQ, Hotdog, Little White Lies, and SFX, among others. He is also the author of several novels, including The Book of Horror: The Anatomy of Fear in Film and Britpop Cinema: From Trainspotting To This Is England.