Film

We Are What We Are

Name: We Are What We Are
Genre: Horror, Thriller
Released: 2010
Cast: Paulina Gaitán, Francisco Barreiro, Alan Chávez, Carmen Beato, Adrián Aguirre

Other titles called We Are What We Are: the 2013 film.

Horror
Very dark

A Mexican horror film about a family clinging to a dark, ritualistic tradition after their patriarch dies. It's visceral and deeply uncomfortable—less jump-scares, more creeping dread. For viewers drawn to folk horror, body horror, and the corruption that lives inside tradition itself.

TMDb rating

3.0

If you liked this

The Wailing2016

A South Korean masterpiece that uses ritual and faith as a source of genuine terror. Like We Are What We Are, it builds dread through atmosphere and asks what we'll do to protect our beliefs, no matter the cost.

But Nearly three hours long, structurally complex, and the ending deliberately refuses easy answers. It demands your full attention and may frustrate you.

Hereditary2018

Family as a site of inherited trauma and horror. Ari Aster creates the same suffocating sense of tradition as a cage, with stunning craft and performances that break your heart before they break you.

But Genuinely upsetting throughout. Not a film that lets you rest, and some images will stay with you in ways you might not welcome.

The Descent2005

British horror that trusts the audience to sit in darkness and claustrophobia. Like We Are What We Are, it's about what people become when systems fail and desperation takes over. Expertly crafted tension.

But Relentless and graphic. If you're looking for relief or catharsis, this film isn't interested in providing it.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from We Are What We Are

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Raw2017

Both films use cannibalism as a ritual passed through families, but Raw treats it as an internal, sexual awakening rather than an external tradition. Different philosophies, same transgressive core.

A French-Belgian film about a veterinary student who discovers cannibalistic urges during her first term. It uses body horror and transgression to explore desire, identity, and appetite as an inheritance. Visually stunning and genuinely shocking without relying on gore alone.

But Extreme in both subject matter and visual style. The ambiguity about whether to judge or sympathize with the protagonist will alienate viewers who need moral clarity.

Let the Right One In2008

A Swedish vampire story that treats horror as intimate and tragic rather than spectacular. It shares We Are What We Are's interest in family, ritual, and the ways love can justify the unjustifiable.

But Slow-paced and melancholic. The horror is quiet, which means it requires patience and won't satisfy anyone wanting action or scares.

Starry Eyes2014

Body horror about ambition and what we'll sacrifice for it. Like We Are What We Are, it's about participating in something that destroys you, filmed with real style and commitment to discomfort.

But The sexual violence is explicit and difficult. It uses that difficulty on purpose, which doesn't make it easier to watch.

The Wretched2019

A creature feature that builds dread through folklore and family secrets. Effective use of atmosphere and genuinely scary moments, with the same sense of threat living next door.

But Lower budget shows in some places. The third act relies on plot mechanics that strain credibility, and the pacing stumbles.

A Dark Song2016

An Irish horror film about ritual and grief, where the true terror is emotional. It shares We Are What We Are's fixation on what people will endure in the name of family or redemption.

But Deliberately paced and abstract. Long scenes of ritual repetition will feel slow to anyone wanting plot momentum or conventional story structure.

Martyrs2008

French extremist cinema that treats suffering and ritual as philosophy. Raw and uncompromising, it explores similar territory: families bound by violence, tradition as justification for cruelty.

But Genuinely transgressive and graphic. This is not entertainment in any comfortable sense—it's a film designed to upset and provoke.

You're Next2013

Home invasion horror with a family at its center. Clever and energetic, with a strong female lead and the same interest in how family bonds fracture under pressure.

But More fun and less serious than We Are What We Are. If you're looking for slow-burn dread, the tone-shift toward wit might feel jarring.

Come True2020

Both films use the body as a site of corruption and violation. We Are What We Are makes the body a tool for ritual; Come True makes it a landscape for something unknowable to inhabit. Same register of creeping bodily wrongness.

A Canadian sci-fi horror film about sleep studies and body horror that creeps under your skin through atmosphere and dread rather than plot. Gorgeous, unsettling cinematography and a synth score that becomes part of the terror. Strange and hypnotic.

But Deliberately abstract and uninterested in conventional narrative closure. If you need plot clarity and character motivation spelled out, this will frustrate you deeply.

High Life2018

Both films are about closed systems where those in power justify the unjustifiable to the powerless. But High Life is maximalist science fiction where We Are What We Are is intimate folk horror—they share a moral question, not a genre or style.

Claire Denis's science-fiction horror about a space prison where a charismatic doctor runs experiments on inmates. Languid, beautiful, and deeply disturbing. It explores authority, bodily autonomy, and survival in a confined space with the same philosophical weight as We Are What We Are but in an entirely different register.

But Glacially paced and visually abstract. The narrative is sparse; meaning lives in images rather than events. Many viewers will find it pretentious or boring rather than profound.