New Amazon Prime horror movie 'not for everyone' but Oscar-winner's performance is 'incredible'

The new horror movie House of Spoils features Ariana DeBose as a chef who becomes embroiled in a battle with the evil spirit of her restaurant's previous owner

Ariana DeBose's latest horror thriller, House of Spoils, is now available for streaming on Amazon Prime Video. Is it worth adding to your Halloween watchlist?

The film features the Oscar-winning West Side Story actress as a chef who bites off more than she can chew when she opens her first restaurant. Alongside the usual kitchen nightmares, she also has to deal with the malevolent spirit of the building's previous owner who tries to sabotage her new business venture.

Produced by Blumhouse, the studio behind M3GAN, The Invisible Man, Get Out and many more, the film was released this Thursday and has received mixed reviews.

Despite this, House of Spoils has its fair share of supporters who insist that the supernatural thriller is well worth a watch.

One horror enthusiast on X (formerly Twitter) wrote: "#HouseofSpoils is actually pretty decent", reports the Mirror.

"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!" a third 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 enamoured with the film, as one critic branded it a "flavourless" horror movie.

"It lacked the ingredients to thrill you let alone scare you," they continued. "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."

Opinions remained divided on the social media film platform Letterboxd, with one user confessing their ambivalence: "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!

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"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?)"

Yet, another film enthusiast defended the movie, saying: "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."

While Ariana's performance has been lauded and comparisons drawn to the FX series The Bear, the question remains - will this be enough to make House of Spoils a box office success?

House of Spoils is available to stream on Prime Video.

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