- Rating: 3/5 stars
- Verdict: "A frustrating example of a movie of two halves, 'The Last House' starts strong with a lockdown thriller premise full of potential. But despite the best efforts of its talented stars, Wagner Moura and Greta Lee, the high-concept finale drowns out the early promise."
- Where to watch: "The Last House" is on Netflix now
Netflix’s “The Last House” hits uncomfortably close to home. This new sci-fi thriller movie sees a family of four trapped in their home, communicating with next-door neighbors through handwritten signs, staving off boredom by watching whatever DVDs they have lying around and musing on exactly when they might be permitted to see the outside world once again.
This on-screen nuclear family is in lockdown due to a mysterious natural force. However, the parallels to the coronavirus pandemic, and the resulting quarantines many experienced, could not be more obvious. Holding a mirror up to the testing reality society battled barely half a decade ago gives “The Last House” an early sense of momentum and purpose.
But, much like its protagonist, Netflix viewers will eventually feel cabin fever set in. As the movie chugs towards a finale that jumps the shark in more ways than one, all that initial potential evaporates quicker than rainwater in the hot summer sun. Even the best efforts of its stars, Oscar-nominated Wager Moura and the equally talented Greta Lee, can’t stop the slide.
It leaves “The Last House” as a movie of two halves, one good, one decidedly less so. When stitched together as a whole — and due to the rapid change of tone, this sci-thriller does feel somewhat Frankenstein-ed together — the final result is a Netflix original that plays its best hand too early.
What is ‘The Last House’ about?
Set in rainy Seattle, “The Last House” follows a family of four: husband and wife, Jason (Wagner Moura) and Ann (Greta Lee), and their two young children, a boy and a girl.
The family’s bond, resourcefulness and survival instincts are tested when a mysterious rainfall traps them in their suburban house. All their doors are sealed and a watery barrier forms around the home, preventing them from breaking a window to escape. They can’t get in or out. All that’s left to do is bunker down, ration their food, and hope for a quick rescue.
But as days turn to months, and months into years, and the youngest child swears there are creatures lurking in the rain, the family has to contend with threats both inside and outside of their home turned prison.
‘The Last House’ is a lockdown thriller that goes on too long
For around an hour, “The Last House” is an effective (and affecting) sci-fi thriller. The family’s initial response to being locked down in their home echoes how many of us responded to our own quarantine experience. Put a brave face, make a few jokes, watch copious amounts of classic movies, try to learn a new hobby or two, and wait for further instructions to follow.
But as it becomes clear to the movie’s core foursome that swift help isn’t coming, desperation takes hold. One impactful scene sees Wagner’s Jason communicating via written sign with an also-trapped senior neighbor, asking if they have enough food, and the “no” he receives in reply is chilling. In another, the daughter (Riley Chung) begs Lee’s Ann for more food, only for her mom to snap and reveal to her kids the fridge is entirely bare.
It’s all compelling stuff, and the darker aspects of being house-bound are smartly mixed with moments of levity, like the neighborhood holding a quarantine street party, each resident dancing in their own home. Not together in person, but connected by shared experience.
The movie isn’t afraid to lean into the bleakness of it all. A mid-movie multi-year timeskip is a gut-punch moment. “The Last House” is not the first movie about being trapped in a house or building (see Netflix’s own “Brick,” released last year, as just one of many previous examples), but these usually take place over a few days or a couple of weeks. In “The Last House,” the central family is stuck in this nightmare situation for the long haul.
Viewers might start to feel creeping cabin fever, too. Running close to two hours, “The Last House” stretches its initial premise as far as it can go, and then turns to a wild genre switch-up to keep viewers engaged. But not before an oddly stilted debate about whether to eat the family’s pet dog (the family needs food…) which is closer to padding than a shocking scene.
New life is eventually breathed into “The Last House” when the second half disregards the close-quarters thriller tension for a more ambitious sci-fi monster movie approach. Frustratingly, the tonal shift is jarring, and the resolution is so cliché that it’s all a bit of a damp squib (should that be damp squid based on the tentacle-mouthed design of the monsters?).
As it crawls towards its finale, the pandemic analogy is largely disregarded in favor of a preachy environmental message that is anything but subtle. And that’s before a character directly spells it out for you. Maybe that’s for the Netflix viewers only half-watching while scrolling their phones.
Despite the best efforts of Moura and Lee (criminally wasted in a role that gives her few moments to shine), who are both talented performers, “The Last House” eventually collapses in on itself. The eye-rolling finale, coupled with a superficially deep voiceover, washes away the early promise, and by the end, you’ll be glad to be freed from having to watch this Netflix movie.
Watch "The Last House" on Netflix now
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