The Seasoning House

In the directorial debut of special effects guru Paul Hyatt, young actress Rosie Day plays Angel, a deaf and mute girl who sees her family brutally murdered before she is dragged to the eponymous Seasoning House, where kidnapped girls are forced to into prostitution for soldiers of a bleak and senseless Balkan war. The first half of the film has a very dream-like quality to it, as Angel, who is enslaved to care for the prostituted girls, performs her daily routine of doping the victims, and then cleaning them up after they have suffered the soldiers often disturbingly brutal attentions. Hyatt has said he was heavily influenced by Pan's Labyrinth, and it certainly shows in this half as Angel silently wanders the seasoning house and we glimpse the world as she senses, or more accurately, doesn't sense it. But when ruthless soldier Goran, played by Sean Pertwee, and his men arrive on the scene, the same soldiers responsible for murdering Angel's family, she takes drastic action and the film swerves from darkly depressing, to a taut, tense and brutal game of cat and mouse. Rosie Day does well in the lead role, her character, subdued and distant in the beginning, shows signs of life as she recalls memories of her family, slowly bonds with one of the prostitutes who fortuitously knows sign language, and eventually comes to her aid as she suffers horrifically at the hands of one of Goran's men, the monstrous Ivan, while Goran himself is a fittingly cruel and tenacious main villain. The savage scenes of rape in the first half are offset by the brutal acts of revenge and survival in the second, each accompanied, as you would expect, by some great visual effects, but while the film is engaging throughout and comes to a satisfying conclusion, it felt slightly disjointed and meandered in places. However, that doesn't ever detract from the overall tone of the film, darkly foreboding and laced with a palpable sense of menace, it's a tense and disturbing ride.

This film was brutal, graphic, emotional, and shocking in parts. The story was well written, and well acted. Sean Pertwee plays the part of a mean and horrible army officer, and I found myself hating him so much - I put that down to how well he played the part. The main character ("Angel" played by Rosie Day) was also played perfectly, as she doesn't speak a word in the whole movie, so the role relies on her acting ability, which she does so well. Some parts of this film are brutal and gory, but that makes this movie even better as it shows the emotion of the story line, which in my opinion is portrayed perfectly in these scenes. The first 15 minutes of the film set up the plot - and it is pretty confronting. I felt emotions that I haven't felt for a while from watching a film, and with every new scene I was heavily involved and interested to see how it turned out. I have to say this film is one of the best drama/horror movies I've seen in years. I would have to give it a solid 8.5 out of 10. Highly recommend it, just do not have children in the room when watching it.

A powerful kick in the guts.

The first frame of the film reads '1996 - Balkans'. By that time the 'Dayton Agreement' had been signed, yet Slobodan Milosevic, the president of Socialist Republic of Serbia (Serbia, current) and Ratko Mladic (commander-in-chief of the Army of Republika Srpska) continued the ethnic cleansing by setting up 'sex camps' for the Serbian Army where twenty to fifty thousands of Bosniak (Bosnian Muslims) women were systematically raped to intimidate, humiliate and produce a generation of Serbs, all with a political agenda.

"The women knew the rapes would begin when 'Marš na Drinu' was played over the loudspeaker of the main mosque. 'Marš na Drinu,' or 'March on the Drina', is reportedly a former Chetnik fighting song that was banned during the Tito years.

"While 'Marš na Drinu' was playing, the women were ordered to strip and soldiers entered the homes taking the ones they wanted. The age of women taken ranged from 12 to 60. Frequently the soldiers would seek out mother and daughter combinations. Many of the women were severely beaten during the rapes." - Seventh Report on War Crimes in the Former Yugoslavia: Part II, US submission of information to the United Nations Security Council.

This is a story of one such sex camp.

What I learned from Sarajevo was to stop complaining about anything.

What I took from the film is that it takes one tough cookie to absorb it all in and then explode with a vengeance in the enemy's face.

Absolutely horrendous hideous movie. Pushes bounties that should not be pushed/witnessed, and I highly DO NOT recommend this for anyone on the fritz regarding their boundaries.

A Serbian Film is often quoted as the most extreme movie, but for me the first 1/2 of this exceeds even that. It isn't over the top and it's purely atrocious. This movie isn't mindless brutality, it introduces convincing stories and emotions; making the movie significantly more difficult to sit through.

8/10 as the quality of this movie was very good... and the plot itself existed.. and was even good at that.. plus it really pulled one in emotionally. But make no mistake, this movie is not one meant to be enjoyed. If you found even an ounce of enjoyment from the first 1/2 of this movie; I wish you a short future.

England's answer to Greg Nicotero moves away from the special make up effects and goes behind the camera to bring us this harrowing tale of Angel (Day, in a breath-taking debut), a girl ripped from her home during the war in the Balkans.

In war torn zones, military are kidnapping girls and selling them into the sex trade where they are sold to militia and civilians. Deaf and mute Angel is one of these girls who sees her mother murdered in front of her before being delivered to a brothel where she becomes the personal sex slave to its owner. A birthmark on her face makes her tainted goods so the owner, Viktor (Howarth), uses her to dope the girls with heroin to make them more amenable to their visitors, then clean them up afterwards. She spends her time away from the prying eyes of her captors crawling through the limited space of the ventilation system. Until an unplanned incident brings her head to head with the men who took her from her family.

Make no odds, The Seasoning House is not a comfortable watch but it is impossible to take your eyes from it. Based on true events of atrocities that happened during the war, Hyett brings us into a degenerate world of men willing to pay for sex with tied up, drugged women and pay extra to be rough with them. Some of the girls do not survive some of their "customers". The performances, especially from Day (watch out for her, she will be a name to take notice of) had to be good to make the film believable and to care about Angel. Howarth gives us a dark turn of a man just as at ease plunging a knife into the neck of a young girl to simply make a point as he is pouring a shot of whiskey.

Hyett builds a relationship between Angel and Viktor that enables the power dynamic between the two of them to change during the film. This is integral to some of the major turns in the story and needed to be handled delicately so as not to be too in your face about it but also sustain a sense of believability with the interaction of the two.

The Seasoning House is violent and gripping but never feels exploitative which was needed to ensure you retained a high level of empathy for Angel. It's hard to use the word enjoyed with this film but it is a superb piece of art that fully deserves wider recognition. If you get the chance and can stomach something more hard hitting than your usual Hollywood attempts and horror then I highly recommend this film.

A tragic tale of love, loss and death, this is one film you won't forget in a hurry.