Prime Video’s Witchy Horror actually understands the restaurant industry

There are several culinary series – about making food, about chefs, about traveling and being introduced to a variety of foods from different cultures – and movies about the restaurant industry (the dark comedy The menu immediately comes to mind). A lot of the time the focus is so much on the stress of working in the food industry and the experience of a high-end meal, but not on the soil from which it comes. House of Spoils
is an investigation of witchcraft, land, and the respect it should be given, and a study of the perversion and pressure of the restaurant industry.

Co-directed and co-written by Bridget Savage Cole and Danielle Krudy, House of Spoils Follows the character of Ariana DeBose, known simply as “Chef,” as she quits her job as a sous chef to open her own restaurant in upstate New York. She works with Andres (Arian Moayed), who is promised to invest in her as she prepares an old house with its own garden for her grand opening. But the longer she is there, the more the chef starts hearing voices and sees the spirit of the woman, apparently a witch, who used to own the place.

House of Spoils is not horror

And it’s at its best when it’s not trying to be

House of Spoils It excels when it focuses on the horrors of the restaurant industry, although its approach differs from other films that have tackled the same subject. Chef is so focused on success that she starts treating her sous-chef, Lucia (Barbie Ferreira), as she was treated at first. Chef’s lack of a name suggests she could be anyone, but the fact that she is a woman paves the way for exploring how sexist treatment can push women out of the industry or, in Chef’s case, drive her to become Like the people she. Not loved.

The film clarifies whether the house is driving the chef to the brink or if it is Andrés and the pressures of opening a restaurant that is the reason. Although we finally find out the answer, the themes of the film are strong enough to overshadow the trivial horror we are served. House of Spoils Is frankly not scary, and it is not very difficult to be despite being a ghost story. There’s nothing particularly spooky about it, and Cole and Crudy aren’t interested in playing into stereotypes about witches, which is a good thing.

The film is better when taken as a whole. When I spend too long thinking about its parts, its strengths begin to weaken. Chef was driven to the beach and, for a while, I wasn’t sure exactly where House of Spoils is going The final act is tinged with a strange sense of humor that seems a little out of place. Once I realized that it was completely underlining the refuge of fine dining’s ceremony to embrace the connection between food and land, the more I was able to get on board, even as it pushes its horror to the side.

The handling of the final moments – and even the scenes leading up to it – are certainly eccentric, with tonal changes affecting parts of the story. Fortunately, things are not enough to derail House of Spoils From being a semi-enjoyable, and even intriguing, watch. I get what it was trying to do, and I respect that it wasn’t trying to stick to some standard that didn’t work for it. When Shef figured out what worked for her and accepted her role in the next stage of her career, the sense of freedom was palpable.

House Of Spoils doesn’t shy away from the reality of its setting

And Ariana DeBose commits to her performance

The Prime Video movie delves into the realities of working in the restaurant industry, and it does so in a charming way. Chef says she spent seven years of her life without days off, so the pressure of succeeding was felt more acutely at every turn. We knew how much this meant to her, and at the same time recognizing the person she became because of the great pressure was not something to be applauded.

Debose gives a committed performance – her emotions fluctuate between shock, fear, annoyance, despair and a wildness that is especially felt at the end. Chef goes on a rollercoaster ride defined by heightened emotions and adrenaline, and Debose is impressive in how she embodies her character through such a bumpy journey. Moayed and Ferreira are good in supporting roles, while Amara Karan is memorable in a small role as a food critic.

I may not have fully bought into the supernatural elements House of Spoils Tried to embrace, and they didn’t work in the grand scheme of ​​things, but there is something here that is worth experiencing. It may not live up to the horror genre’s best movies, but it has an obvious spirit that kept me from looking away.

House of Spoils is now available to stream on Prime Video. The film is 101 minutes long and rated R for language and some violent content.