Review of The Seasoning House (2012) by Daniel E — 23 Feb 2014

A film whose closest comparison might be 'A Serbian Film', not so much in extremity, but certainly in terms of the subtext being lost to the visceral effects. Starting the film by telling us we are in the Balkans in 1996, we are supposed to be ready for some sort of examination of the national troubles, the conflict and the politics.

Certainly we get a look at the barbarism of man caused by the conflicts of the atrocities and the debasement of humanity in the region; certainly there is no denying the impact of some of the first half.

Sadly, though, by the final act the film has fallen into absurdity, with a cat and mouse setup between a mute victim and her militia hunters; it's all very nasty and lacking any real tension. The characters have no fleshing out to speak of and in terms of understanding motivations, Paul Hyett, who worked on the effects for films such as 'The Descent', has little directorial skill.

Had this been in the hands of somebody like the aforementioned film's director Paul Marshall, perhaps we would have had a more solid and contemplative piece; in Hyett's hands, it just feels a bit empty.

On the plus, the central performance is pretty convincing and there is certainly some intense, foreboding atmosphere generated at points up to about the halfway point, before it all starts to unravel.