House of Spoils Review
A horror film set in a restaurant has exciting potential. A high-stress environment, what could be a literally cutthroat competitive atmosphere, the limitless ways that food and cooking implements can cause injury; there’s a lot to work with. Unfortunately, House of Spoils is unimaginative in how it works in the setting. The film follows a promising chef, known only as ‘Chef’ (Ariana DeBose), who leaves a prestigious kitchen to set up her joint, backed by flashy restaurateur Andreas (Arian Moayed). The run-down building they plan to set up in is grimy, the appliances outdated and the whole structure looks like a tumbledown health and safety hazard. This does not stop our intrepid protagonist, though, who enlists the help of local youth Alvin (Gabriel Drake), who not only helps to scrub the place up but also offers helpful insights into the property’s spooky history, namely that it used to belong to a witch.
House of Spoils has all the horror classics. An old creaky building in the middle of nowhere, thunderous storms, the protagonist saying “hello?” to what is ostensibly an empty house… it’s all there. Yet it doesn’t offer much in the way of originality, instead harping on tried-and-true tropes and never coming together satisfyingly. Compared to the many films and TV shows that take place in or around restaurants, House of Spoils comes across as dismally under-researched. There are small things, like the sous chef having a perfect manicure or the number of meals made from a single rabbit, that jar instantly.
The entire production feels based on preconceptions about the restaurant world rather than anything researched. Artfully prepared plates look derivative, and while the recipe development scenes spark interest, there’s little depth to them. The film doesn’t value cooking, using it only as a backdrop for the fairly weak plot and a way to score extra gross-out points; bugs crawl out of a shocking amount of dishes over the runtime until it starts to feel par for the course. At one point, commenting on the descent into madness of a fellow chef, sous Lucia (Barbie Ferreira) says, “The job brought out the worst in him. You know chefs, they’re all addicts or headcases”. This encapsulates the lack of nuance on show throughout the film, with another standout example a particularly on-the-nose shot towards the conclusion of Chef stirring a stew in a giant pot over a crackling fire. Just in case you didn’t catch the witchy element of it all.
There’s some attempt at feminism here, with Lucia calling Chef out on her misogynistic tendencies and a brief heart-to-heart between the two on the male-dominated kitchens they’ve worked in. The film takes a sympathetic view of witches, leaning into the idea that these were misunderstood women offering herbal remedies rather than the cackling, familiar-toting variety. At no point is any meaningful commentary given on these points; it’s very much a point-out-the-obvious approach, which, like the surface-level cookery, leaves a lot to be desired.
Visually, House of Spoils is engaging. The house, where most of the action takes place, feels eminently explorable, and many of the more disgusting scenes are gleefully gross. Equally, the cast performs well under the trying circumstances of a shaky script and mediocre plot, and when they’re given the chance to play off of one another the film perks up. All in all, though, these moments of interest aren’t enough to save the film. Two stars on Tripadvisor.
★★
Streaming now on Prime Video / Ariana DeBose, Marton Csokas, Barbie Ferreira, Arian Moayad, Amara Karan / Dirs: Bridget Savage Cole and Danielle Krudy / Blumhouse, Prime Video
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