The Seasoning House

Synopsis

The movie follows Angel, a young girl that is forced to work in a house that specializes in supplying kidnapped women forced into the sex trade to various military personnel. Initially planned to be put to work as an unwilling sex slave, Angel, a deaf mute with an "unattractive" birth mark on her face, instead becomes the assistant to Viktor, who runs the brothel. During the day she is given the duty of putting makeup on the kidnapped women and drugging them. When the men are finished with the women, Angel has the duty of cleaning them up after being violently raped by various men.

At night Angel wanders the walls and crawlspaces of the house, which is when she befriends newcomer Vanya. The squad that brought in Angel comes for a visit. The commander, Goran, brings his squad into the brothel, including his beloved brother, Josif, and another soldier, Ivan. Angel crawls through the vents from her room to Vanyas room and sees Vanya being raped by Ivan. When Ivan kills Vanya, Angel uses a knife to attack and kill Ivan. The shuffling noises inside the room alert Goran, Viktor, and the rest of the squad and who come to find Ivan and Vanya dead, with Angel gone. The rest of the men start looking for Angel. Goran sends one of his men into the vents, but Angel kills him. Viktor kills one of Gorans men because he has been losing so many women from the brutal rapes.

Angel escapes the house with Goran, Josif and Viktor looking for her in the forest. Angel sees all the dead women decomposing in the forest. Viktor catches up to Angel and convinces he isnt going to harm her, to which she gives up the knife. Viktor, being caught by Goran and Josif, offers Angel in exchange for their mercy. The three men are at a standstill with their weapons drawn with Viktor using Angel as a human shield. Viktor convinces Goran and Josif to call a truce by offering half of his profits. As the men slowly put down their weapons, Angel grabs the knife from Viktors belt and stabs him in the foot causing him to inadvertently shoot and kill Josif. Goran is devastated by his brothers death and shoots Viktor.

Angel escapes to a womans house, but soon realizes the woman is Ivans wife, Lexi. After Lexi gets a call from Goran and hears the tragic news of Josif, she unsuccessfully attempts to kill Angel. Angel kills her and starts running to the nearest factory. Goran catches up and they start climbing the tubes. When Goran gets stuck, Angel stuffs his mouth with a rag so he would be unable to speak or call for help. Angel proceeds out of the tube leaving Goran behind to die a slow death. Finally free, Angel runs to the nearest house and is helped by an elderly couple, that is later revealed to be the doctor who assisted Viktors girls and his wife.

Main

Rosie Day as Angel

Kevin Howarth as Viktor

Sean Pertwee as Goran

Supporting

Anna Walton as Violeta

Jemma Powell as Alexa

David Lemberg as Dimitri

Amanda Wass as Arijana

Sean Cronin as Branimar

Tomi May as Aleksander

Emma Britton as Samira

Emily Tucker as Nina

Katy Allen as Tatjana

Thomas Worthington as Vinko

Gina Abolins as Jasmina

Dominique Provost-Chalkley as Vanya

Fabiano De Souza Ramos as Dragan

Christopher Rithin as Danijel

Rachel Waring as Emilia

Laurence Saunders as Stevan

Tommie Grabiec as Ratko

Philip Anthony as Dr. Andre

Alec Utgoff as Josif

Ryan Oliva as Ivan

Daniel Vivian as Radovan

James Bartlett as Marko

Adrian Bouchet as Branko

Eddie Oswald as Boiler Room Thug

Abigail Hamilton as Marisa

Natalie Ames as Village Girl (uncredited)

Stuart Bailey as Local Man (uncredited)

Charlie Bannocks as Villager girl (uncredited)

Paul Blackwell as Villager (uncredited)

Steven Borrie as Villager (uncredited)

Carly Borrow as Villager (uncredited)

Chris Cowlin as Villager (uncredited)

Shaun Lucas as Punter (uncredited)

Colin Oliver as Soldier (uncredited)

Tiger Rudge as Villager (uncredited)

Dan Shelton as Balaclava Man (uncredited)

Niklaas van Poortvliet as Client (uncredited)

Martin Webbe as Villager (uncredited)

Reception

The press reaction to The Seasoning House was polarized. Some were excellent reviews (mostly from the horror press), and the mixed to negative from the British mainstream press. EMPIRE MAGAZINE, "Strikingly bold and brutally compelling. It also handles its delicate subject more carefully than you might imagine from a brief synopsis". STARBURST MAGAZINE, "The film is just powerful and gut-churning enough to leave a lasting impression and one of the strongest directorial debuts of recent times. Boasting a remarkable performance from young Rosie Day, the film is very different from your typical British genre picture and is a refreshing change from endless zombie films or movies about hooded violent teenagers". DREADCENTRAL, "Hyett’s direction is measured, confident, and darkly poetic throughout, weaving an emotional web of tenderness amidst hopelessness and abuse. The Seasoning House is a lyrical, bleak, and deeply wounding exploration of brutality and inhumanity that cries out to be seen".Bloody Disgusting wrote that "What makes The Seasoning House stand out is that everything about it is simple and done in a way that just results in the proper definition of art". Negative reviews for the film such as the one by Time Out London criticized what they saw as a "failure to blend the raw sexual violence and social comment with more familiar generic tropes" and the "downbeat switchback ending" that they felt was "neither convincing nor earned.". The Guardian also panned the film, as they felt that the depictions of human monsters were "cardboard" and did not feel genuine.

The Seasoning House currently holds a 21% percent rating on rotten tomatoes garnered from 14 reviews.

The Seasoning House won the Critics award at Fantasporto, Portugal, the Critics award at Mile High Horror Festival at Denver, Colorado, Best actress at Screamfest LA and Best actress again for Rosie Day at Fantaspoa, Brazil and most recently Best Film, Best Director and Best Actress at Bragacine IFF, Portugal.