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 aftermath of an Eastern European war is that young girls are forced into prostitution. Angel (Rosie Day) is a young mute girl who is taken to such a place. Viktor (Kevin Howarth) who runs the place has taken a liking toward her and has her in charge of shooting up the other girls. She befriends one of the girls who knows sign language.

The soldiers who come there are mean and cruel. Angel, makes Fiona Apple look obese, as she crawls through air vents like my cats do when I yell at them for changing the channel. The first half of the film is slow establishing the characters and scenario.

This is not the exploitation film one expects from the cover and title. I enjoyed the dark irony of the ending which was worth the wait.

Worth a view if you liked "The Whistleblower".

Parental Guide: F-bomb, rape, male rear nudity. No female nudity.

In 1996, in the Balkans, the population of a small town is slaughtered by a militia under the command of the inhuman Goran (Sean Pertwee) that abducts young girls for prostitution in a brothel owned by the cruel Viktor (Kevin Howarth). The deaf Angel (Rosie Day) that witnessed the execution of her mother has a weird birth mark on the face and Viktor chooses her to housework; to put makeup and drug the girls for the clients; and cleaning them up after the brutal encounters. Angel also sneaks between the walls and ventilation ducts during the night. Angel befriends the girl Vanya (Dominique Provost-Chalkley) that knows the language of the deaf. When Goran returns to the house with his men, Angel witnesses one of them raping and killing Vanya and she revenges her new friend killing the man. Now Goran and his men are hunting her down and she is trapped in the house.

"The Seasoning House" is a brutal, dark, dramatic and depressive thriller about a sad theme, the human exploitation in prostitution. Rosie Day has an amazing performance in the role of a mute teenager traumatized by the brutal war. The gloomy conclusion is scary and hopeless. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): Not Available