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In Amazon Studios' House of Spoils, Ariana DeBose plays the lead role of a nameless character known simply as "Chef". Chef has been working as sous-chef in a high-end restaurant for the better part of seven years, without a single day off, under the tutelage of esteemed chef Marcello (Marton Csokas). However, as is the dream of most chefs, our nameless chef has reached the point in her career where she's ready to go out on her own, take a leap of faith, and open her own restaurant with the help of her friend and restauranteur Andres (Arian Moayed). Marcello, knowing how talented Chef is, tries his best to convince her to stay. When she insists on leaving, Marcello makes one last ditch effort to keep her by offering to double her current salary, but it isn't enough. In Chef's mind, money simply can't buy the same level of happiness as running your own restaurant.
So, what is this new restaurant? Some trendy new spot in a bustling downtown area? Not even close. In fact, quite the opposite... destination dining. Open up shop out in the boonies and make it such a memorable experience that people will willingly go hours out of their way just to say they've been there. Andres has the perfect place to attempt this concept, an abandoned estate in the middle of the woods.
Chef is so dedicated to making this work that she's even given up her apartment and decided to live on-site at the estate while opening the restaurant. Though it doesn't take long for Chef to realize that something is off with the whole property. Food that she's just prepared suddenly has bugs scurrying about and crawling out of it. All of the prep that she did the night before has turned into mold while being stored in the coolers. To make matters worse, she begins to hear and see things at night in her sleeping quarters. When she asks Andres to reconsider timelines for opening, he reminds her that he picked her because he thought she was capable of rising to the occasion. Someone as talented as Chef surely can handle a few bumps in the road along the way...right?
Well, what can I say other than...Blumhouse strikes again.
House of Spoils is frustratingly unsure of what type of movie it wants to be. Give me a drama about a chef overcoming the odds in a male-dominated profession who gets to pursue her dream opportunity, all while having to battle with her own self-doubts, and I'm politely telling you to shut up and take my money.
As a matter of fact, that is what we got here, at least up until about the midway point. But then the film realizes it is supposed to be a horror movie and that's when the wheels fall off. What we get in the second half of House of Spoils are ideas and elements that seem, at best, only half thought out. The former owner of the estate and her backstory feels almost shoehorned in. Magnus' time at the estate needed some fleshing out. It's almost as if the duo of Bridget Savage Cole and Danielle Krudy, both of whom wrote and directed, were too afraid to lean into the horror aspects that were needed in order to make this work. A haunted restaurant kitchen in the middle of the woods should have some sort of unsettling atmosphere around it. In this instance, there is a glaring lack of any atmosphere whatsoever. Everything feels bland and safe.
Marton Csokas shines in his limited screentime and Arian Moayed is always great at playing someone whose intentions are never quite clear. But make no mistake, Ariana DeBose was hands-down the best part of the film. She deserved better than this. There are scenes where it might appear that DeBose is going way over the top and almost overacting. However, in my opinion, she's doing her best to try and elevate the scene and everyone around her. Despite the erratic script, she was able to get me to care about Chef's outcome and whether or not the restaurant would be a success.
All of the pieces are there for a supernatural culinary thriller and someday I hope someone can make the concept work. But if you were to ask me if I'd recommend you take an hour and forty-one minutes out of your day to watch House of Spoils, the answer is...no, chef.
🍿 SCORE = 44 / 100
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