Movie review House of Spoils, a tarnished dish with Ariana DeBose

Fall is the season where horror fans salivate with satisfaction. New pictures steadily roll out in theatres while classics dominate streaming.  Blumhouse delivers its’ expected offering with House of Spoils, from writer & director duo Bridget Savage Cole and Danielle Krudy (Blow the Man Down).

With the grill still smoking from her Oscar win, Ariana DeBose (West Side Story), known to us simply as Chef, is a young woman leaving her secure position as head cook at a prestigious city restaurant to venture upstate, with the plan to run her own establishment with business partner Andres ((Arian Moayed, Succession). Oozing with foodie-finance bro vibes, Andres has high hopes and unreasonable expectations for Chef that will only add to the pressure that her slew of prescription pills can’t subdue.

Blumhouse meets The Bear, as their new place has eerie secrets with a mysterious history stewing. Marinated in mold and topped with insects, challenges mount quickly to get the kitchen in order to prep a meal for their investors and a food critic. Chef’s is joined by resume-forging sous chef Lucia (Barbie Ferreira, Euphoria). Boasting cast members from current hit shows while dropping pop-culture references to dining guide Infatuation, the film starts to feel like it’s trying hard to be hip.

Milling about the property, Chef is shaken but not scared off by the remnants of the previous owner, a reputed local “witch lady” known for occult rituals. She can’t afford to be. Focused on impressing the golden gooses, Chef notices a bug crawl from one of their dishes. The camera fails to pan longer to the creeping bug on the table, prematurely cutting back to Chef’s reaction, diffusing a chance to build tension like a good scary movie should.

One could wax poetic about the underlying themes and implied storylines, but that doesn’t affect the overall composition. The encompassing motif of making a mark amidst a male dominated industry full of “big swinging dicks”, assertion, and communal understanding are vibrant and not to be minimized. However, at many points, House of Spoils wrestles with what kind of film it wants to be, resulting in a dish tarnished from too many ingredients. Hopping between empathizing for a craftsperson and their passion, a search for validation, and the presence of a haunted environment, the picture falls back on cheap thrills. Mixing food porn with gore cinema, it fishes for reactions with predictable kitchen trash talk and insects being eaten.

To up the intensity, Chef is given a two-week period until the opening dinner to prove herself. While striving to do so, Spoils takes a page out of The Shining, with Chef beginning to see and hear startling things as the lines of reality blur, warped by her possessed surroundings. DeBose’s acting chops show us an artist turning mad from her canvas.

Topical enthusiasm for food-related content, in-part thanks to The Bear and The Food Network’s gazillion programs, stands as the film’s vertebrate. Opening night sees tensions boil over as things finally get spooky like you have been waiting for. Overall good performances from the whole cast along with a fresh take on one of Hollywood’s most popular categories dares movie goers to “trick or treat”. But those not die-hard lovers of the genre may be better spending the month of October grabbing a book off the shelf rather than sitting in front of the screen for this one

© All right Reserved