House of Spoils

The haunted restaurant horror tosses plenty into the pot, but the half-developed flavors rest uneasily on the palate.

House of Spoils should mainly be recommended for bringing an unusual spectral essence to a dish you might otherwise turn down. You won’t want seconds, but it’s worth the taste test even picked for parts.

“House of Spoils” is a cut above most recent Blumhouse movies and is observant to the insane pressures of the restaurant biz.

It still might struggle for those expecting a scare (scenes of DeBose hearing a noise and investigating are largely ineffectual) but there’s something undeniably involving about the against-all-odds workplace drama of it.

As the creepiness inevitably pervades the chef’s mental state like weeds in a garden, DeBose’s performance becomes less steady. Yet the actor deserves much of the credit for the film maintaining tension.

A breezy, feel-good culinary treat, but one that won’t satiate those looking for something scary to get under their skin.

House of Spoils is too distracted by its own choices to make any commentary about consumer culture. The finale leaves a laughably bad aftertaste.

"There are unlimited ways to introduce fear into cinematic stories, but unfortunately House of Spoils avoids pretty much all of them"

It is exciting while it goes along, but that ending was so off-the-wall that I was left confused, frankly.

Neither the script nor direction from film-makers Bridget Savage Cole and Danielle Krudy tease out the increasingly preposterous plot with much finesse or intrigue, and DeBose delivers a jarring, overblown performance.