TIRRecommends: House of Spoils – Worth Watching or Not?

House of Spoils is about a chef, played by Ariana DeBose, as she follows her dream to open an upscale restaurant in a remote and spooky location. She has to deal with the house/restaurant haunting her which pushes her to the edge of sanity. The film is a weird combination of chef drama/cooking shows, supernatural and psychological horror.

Spoiler-free Pros and Cons to decide if you want to Watch it or Skip it.

Pros to watch House of Spoils:

Movie vs. Series: I initially thought House of Spoils was a series and was revealed 20 minutes into the film. Since it is a movie, there’s less investment of time. If you’re out of shows to watch and have an hour or two to spare, feel free to check it out.

Cons:

Not scary: House of Spoils has the elements of a horror movie, haunted house, “witches”, secluded location, but does not deliver on the scary. There were some jump-scare moments but they were unsuccessful.
Poorly Mixed Messaging: The film combined popular elements of television such as the cooking and chef shows with horror and the unfair categorization of the unfamiliar. The film presents the message at the end that witches are misunderstood but it came out of nowhere almost, and might leave the audience with a feeling of “where did that come from?” The chef and cooking show aspect seemed thrown on top for the mere reason that people like cooking shows or that they’re currently popular, let’s sprinkle some of that in.
Bad Acting: The reactions to scary moments and haunting felt forced and disingenuous. The film was overall not scary, which was amplified by the acting in what should’ve been scary moments.