THE STORY – An ambitious chef opens a restaurant at a remote estate, but a haunting presence soon threatens to sabotage her at every turn.
THE CAST – Ariana DeBose, Barbie Ferreira, Arian Moayed
THE TEAM – Bridget Savage Cole & Danielle Krudy (Directors/Writers)
THE RUNNING TIME – 101 Minutes
The motif of the unhinged horrors of the culinary world is not new in modern media. Take “The Menu” or “The Bear,” two projects that use the environment and culture of being a chef to highlight their characters’ struggles. This year, Blumhouse takes a turn with “House of Spoils” but adds a horror element to it.
Chef (Ariana DeBose) has a steady career as a line cook in a high-end New York City restaurant. Like most depictions of the industry, this kitchen is loaded with high stress, excitement, organized chaos, and explosive men. Chef has successfully acclimated herself to the environment and has been accepted as one of the cooks on the line — in fact, one of the best. So, it comes as an unsettling surprise to her boss, Marcello (Marton Csokas), when she gives notice of leaving to become a head chef at a new restaurant in the remote country. After failed attempts to keep her, Marcello states that, even though she’s a great chef with a lot of skill, she’s “not a boss.”
The new restaurant, with business partner Andres (Arian Moayed), is an opportunity to project her career into a new stratosphere. Here, she can create an entire menu and atmosphere since the space for the restaurant is similar to an abandoned home. Andres says he wants the restaurant and food to have a grounded and feminine feel to it, taking inspiration from restaurants that grow their own produce. Chef, being from Newark and living in New York City for the last seven years, knows nothing about gardening and doesn’t identify as an overly feminine person. Yet, she’s confident in her skill and creativity to create a great test dinner for potential sponsors. But, the next morning, everything that can go wrong quickly goes wrong. All of her food has gone bad: bugs are in the dough, mold has encompassed every dish, and her newly-hired Sous-chef Lucia (Barbie Ferreira) has little experience in the hot kitchen (she has been stationed at the cold section her entire career). It’s as if someone, or something, doesn’t want her there. However, everything seems to change after a mysterious venture into the forest at night, which inspired Chef to incorporate the vegetation that grows on the grounds into her dishes.
Writer-director duo Bridget Savage Cole and Danielle Krudy effectively showcase the toxic nature of the culinary industry, which plays well into the horror and thriller genre. Is Chef hearing voices telling her to “feed the soil” or witnessing cockroaches investigate her dishes, or is the too-demanding pressure forcing her to crack? Is the house truly haunted, or are the people Chef is working with setting her up for failure? It is in this area that the film shines and becomes not only an entertaining film but also an interesting constructive analysis of work culture, particularly the culinary industry. DeBose perfectly plays Chef as someone determined to take this next step in her career but constantly deals with misogyny from her superiors. So, when a local boy talks about how the previous owner of the space was a witch, Chef is cautious of the word. Was she actually a witch or just a powerful woman? What made her so frightening to men that caused this nefarious legacy? DeBose expertly showcases Chef’s frustration, strength, and fear within the film, as she is menacing, afraid, and commanding. Her moments with Ferreria are also empowering, as the two women speak about their experiences in their previous kitchens and creatively work together. Additionally, the motif of celebrating and incorporating natural resources into one’s produce is a beautiful touch.
But, when the film begins to incorporate elements of the supernatural, the film dilutes its strength. The themes are already being effectively told without the notion of witchcraft or horror interfering with the characters, so the direct addition of it doesn’t support Chef and their journey but rather hinders it. One does not need explicit supernatural elements in order to be a horror film; Chef is already haunted by the men in her life (as well as her psyche). In addition, there are great shots of the food, most noticeably the fruits and meat oozing out juices, that provide a similar effect. So, the added element of witches and ghosts and possession weaken the overall effect Cole and Krudy have built up.
“House of Spoils” is an entertaining film to kick off the spooky season as DeBose continues to showcase her skills as a leading lady and is supported by meaty craftsmanship throughout the film. While Cole and Krudy direct an overall stellar film, it would have been far more interesting and effective if they decided to allow its audience to live in Chef’s mind as it begins to unravel instead of utilizing common horror elements.
