House of Spoils – Review

House of Spoils is streaming on Prime Video.

The art of cooking is continuously being blended into various genres. FX’s ‘The Bear’ is currently one of the most popular shows on television and 2022’s ‘The Menu‘ managed to blend restaurant culture into a sharp satire about class. While cooking is a deliciously popular topic, the blend of horror and “Yes Chef” is rarer than well done.

Directors and writers Bridget Savage Cole and Danielle Krudy have had the ideas of ‘House of Spoils’ brewing for years. The new film from Amazon MGM Studios stars Ariana DeBose as an ambitious chef as she opens a restaurant on a remote estate where something is not quite right and a looming presence is lurking just around the corner.

DeBose is a captivating onscreen presence and has proven herself to successfully carry a film. The film has a small cast. DeBose spends much of the film on her own. She battles rotting food and a kitchen infestation. She can pull off the fear, and audiences will be able to buy that her character would stick out of her current situation rather than running for the hills.

Despite a great turn from DeBose, the film is less successful at creating a cohesive narrative.

Several pieces work here: the parallels between cooking and witchcraft, molding food and bugs instead of traditional jump scares (the mold and bugs are arguably more scary anyway), and the fantastic location where it was filmed. However, while covens and historic magical hijinks are referenced, what exactly is going on could be clearer. Audiences are led to think that a ‘Little Shop of Horrors’ scenario might be about to play out, but the film doesn’t quite go there. The film hits an interesting crescendo but ends immediately after. I argue that what potentially happens after the credits roll is more interesting than what was in the film itself.

Verdict

I give ‘House of Spoils’ 3 out of 5 stars. It is competently made and features some great performances. While some great horror ideas were fused with the kitchen setting, the overall plot might have needed a little extra time to cook.

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