Ariana DeBose’s latest horror thriller is now available for streaming on Amazon Prime Video – but is this culinary terror tale worth your time this Halloween season?
House of Spoils features the West Side Story Oscar-winner as a chef, whose name is not revealed, who finds herself in over her head when she launches her first restaurant.
In addition to the typical kitchen nightmares, she must also deal with the evil spirit of the building’s former owner who attempts to sabotage her new business endeavour.
The film, produced by Blumhouse, the studio responsible for M3GAN, The Invisible Man, Get Out and many others, was launched this Thursday to mixed reviews.
However, House of Spoils has already garnered a number of supporters who maintain that the supernatural thriller is definitely worth a watch.
One horror enthusiast on X (previously Twitter) posted: “#HouseofSpoils is actually pretty decent.
“Ariana DeBose gives it her all, the story is engaging and it has a unique mix of culinary drama and horror that helps make up for an underwhelming ending and lack of scares. Ironic that it’s better than 95% of Blumhouse’s 2024 theater releases.”
Another fan commented: “New on prime: House of Spoils. This is not going to be for everyone but the folk horror vibe really got me. I loved it personally, fantastic female lead.”
“Good movie on streaming alert! ” another viewer exclaimed. “House of Spoils, Ariana DeBose’s new horror movie on Amazon, is super fun.
“Witchy, earth mother vibes. Plus, you get to hear Ariana scream “NO MORE SPOOKY S**T!
Unfortunately, not all viewers were as captivated, with one critic labelling it a “flavourless” horror film.
“It lacked the ingredients to thrill you let alone scare you,” they added. “The earthy witchy spelly suspense bored me. #HouseOfSpoils rode the coattails of The Bear’s popularity but the horror narrative kept hitting the wall with a half-baked empowerment theme.”
The mixed reactions persisted on the social media film platform Letterboxd, with one user confessing they were “sooo mixed on this.
“It’s a feast for the senses for better and worse; a dark fairy tale for the girlies who used to make mud pies at recess and are now wayyy too emotionally attached to the bear,” they penned. “A witchy cautionary tale couched in the world of haute cuisine – so you’d think it’d have more bite than it actually does!
“Unfortunately it’s more interested in grossing you out (fun) and then taking a baffling tonal swing to confront the image of “the witch” in our shared imagination (not fun; kinda preachy?)”
However, another supporter of the film stated: “The Bear meets Midsommar. I loved it. The final act was way out of left field, and I love that it kept me guessing. And there were a handful of just ‘beautiful’ moments to round it all out and bend genre a bit.
“Great acting (Ariana DeBose jumped fields and really knocked it out of left field here), a chill-inducing set, and a fair few moments that will make your skin crawl.”
Numerous individuals have lauded Ariana’s performance and drawn parallels between the film and the FX series The Bear, but is this sufficient to ensure House of Spoils becomes a success?
House of Spoils is available to stream on Prime Video.