The Seasoning House (2012)

The Seasoning House is one of the most original movies I've watched in a long time.In these times it's really rare to see a horror/thriller movie with a solid acting, strong directing and good characters development. Not to forget the moving story that actually makes you care about the characters. And The Seasoning House succeed in doing that.When I watched this movie I didn't have much in mind to look forward, but fortunately, The Seasoning House exceeded my expectations.I have to warn you, this movie is harsh, intense and really dark. With some sad and shocking scenes. It's not for everyone to watch.Definitely worth a watch!

It's hard to think of a film with a more unpalatable premise: in the war-torn Balkans, a group of women are kidnapped are forced to work in a brothel by the notorious warlord Goran. Thus for the first hour the viewer is forced to endure endless rape and misogyny directed at the screaming female cast members, and it's all very unedifying and sleazy. I hate watching this sort of stuff and was tempted to fast forward on more than one occasion.Eventually, the storyline twists into a revenge style set up, and it starts getting gory. Very gory. The explicit special effects turn out to be rather excellent in terms of their realism, and there's some undeniable satisfaction that comes from seeing the bad guys getting their comeuppance. However, the filmmaking is competent rather than good, and aside from the reliable Sean Pertwee as the villain of the piece, none of the performances really stand out. And there's way too much misogyny for it to be the kind of film you'd want to sit through again.

"The Seasoning House" was really not what I had expected it to be from the movie cover. But I must say that I wasn't sorely disappointed that the movie turned out to be something other than what I had thought it to be.This movie is brutal, not just visually, but also emotionally. Especially because the movie is shot the way that it is, and it is nicely edited. There is just something very realistic, albeit horrible nonetheless, to this movie, and that is really what makes "The Seasoning House" work out so well.The story is about a group of young girls brought to a remote house, against their will, where they are forced into servitude and have to perform sexual acts for customers that frequent the house. The mute girl Angel (played by Rosie Day) works the house as a helper, also against her will, when fate brings those who killed her family to the house, and things spiral out of control, as fate deals Angel an unforeseen card.Now, "The Seasoning House" is a very brutal movie, as I mentioned before. Visually because of the scenes portrayed and the horrors that take place in the house where the girls are kept as slaves, drugged and abused. And emotionally because of the events that unfold in the story, and also because the characters are characters you can relate to and very quickly build up some kind of empathy or antipathy for very quickly.Director Paul Hyett managed to put together something really unique here, and this is definitely a movie that you need to watch. And once watched, it is most likely a movie that will stick with you for a long time afterwards.The cast were doing great jobs, although the English language with a pseudo-Eastern European accent wasn't really doing the trick. But it was a minor inconvenience, because the rest of the movie overshadowed this flaw."The Seasoning House" is well worth watching, despite it being rather grotesque in its story and imagery. But it just goes to prove that movies doesn't all have to be glamor and happy days...

The population of a small town is slaughtered under the command of Goran, and abducts young girls for prostitution in a brothel owned by Viktor. A deaf girl who witnessed the execution of her mother, has to do the housework, applies makeup and drugs the girls for the clients, and clean them up after the brutal encounters. She also sneaks between the walls and ventilation ducts during the night. She befriends a girl, Vanya, who knows sign language. When Goran returns to the house with his men, the girl witnesses one of them killing Vanya and she takes vengeance.....Ignore the positive reviews, and the fact that this has two very good actors in it, it's just abhorrent, vile, exploitation that would probably get Eli Roth Salivating.This type of movie was rife during the mid noughties gorenography craze, and it feels such old hat now.It's cheaply made, with British actors made to talk in a silly accent that wouldn't seem out of place in an early Bond movie, and it looks like it was filmed in some woods in the East Midlands.Its depiction of violence is extreme, but not in a way that was entertaining , ala Cabin Fever or Saw, and the whole film feels cold and depressing.It's another film that sounds average on paper, but worse on screen.Don't waste your time.