A family drama evolves into something strange in The Last House, Netflix’s sci-fi thriller about a disconnected family who, trapped inside during a rainstorm, realize they can’t leave their home. The film follows Jason Delgado (Wagner Moura), an out-of-work engineer who lives in the Seattle suburbs with his wife Ann (Greta Lee) and their young children, sullen tween Graham (Noah Alexander Sosnowski) and chipper 8-year-old Ruth (Riley Chung).
They seem out of sync with each other as The Last House begins, despite the care they clearly have for one another. Jason, dejected from his bout with unemployment, goes fishing to pass the time, but even that’s not as much of a comfort as it used to be. Ann knows the names and jobs of most of their neighbors, but the Delgados barely know the people in the houses around them.
One rainy morning, a few weeks before Christmas, the Delgados can’t leave their house. The doors and windows can lock and unlock, but opening them is an entirely different issue. Ann theorizes that local teenagers are pranking them, sealing their house shut, but soon enough, neighbors are at their own windows, holding up whiteboards and chalkboards to write messages; they’re stuck, too.
The Last House works better as a drama rather than a sci-fi thriller.
The rain outside seems more ominous than usual, even for a notoriously rainy part of the country. Their electricity stays intact, but wifi and phone lines go down, keeping the Delgados preoccupied. Ruth swears she saw an unusual creature skulking around the neighborhood. Jason and Ann dismiss this as a product of Ruth’s overactive imagination.
But as the days trapped inside turn into weeks, the Delgados realize they’re at the center of an event they can’t explain to their children. Jason and Ann assure their kids everything will be fine. They have enough food to last at least a few months, and they have a couple of DVDs to get them through the long days. It’s eerily reminiscent of the early days of the COVID pandemic, and one wonders if that’s how the pitch meeting for The Last House began: “What if the early COVID days were less like Contagion and more like an M. Night Shyamalan movie?”
The Shyamalan comparison will deter some from watching The Last House, but it’s a fair comparison. The human drama is at the heart of the film, rather than the science fiction. It doesn’t always succeed, but it tries. Jason is the most well-rounded character. Moura portrays Jason with a weariness that’s evident with every exhale. He loves his family, but has lost patience with the way his life has turned out. Jason uses fishing as an escape from the mundanity of everyday life, but hasn’t even shared that love of fishing with his children.
Of the characters, Jason is the most developed, while others lack depth.
Months into being trapped, Jason teaches his children how to gut a fish, using Ruth’s stuffed animals as a substitute for the demonstration. He offhandedly mentions that he used to own a fishing boat, but sold it “because kids are expensive.” Graham and Ruth’s follow-up questions indicate that their father has never so much as told them about his hobby, and it’s a startlingly poignant moment that demonstrates Jason’s disconnect with his family.
If only The Last House gave that same depth to the rest of its quartet. Ann’s characterization coasts on Lee’s warmth as a performer. She’s scrappy enough to suggest the family learn how to grow their own food, saving tomato seeds for future crops. But there’s not a sense that she has a deeper backstory like Jason’s. Ruth’s optimism and empathy develop as the Delgados’ months inside turn into years, coming the closest to character growth for either child.
The Last House eventually evolves from a family drama to a sci-fi survival thriller. Ruth’s insistence that there was a strange creature outside on the first day eventually proves true. Outside the now-overgrown world beyond the Delgados’ door, creatures that look like the Demogorgons morphed with Pirates of the Caribbean‘s octopoid Davy Jones lurk about whenever torrential rain strikes again.
The practical puppeteering effects that emerge with the creatures are refreshing in an era of CGI.
Sea monsters feel like a fresh concept for a threat in a genre so obsessed with extraterrestrials, but if you pay attention during the film’s epigraph (an Arthur C. Clarke quote insisting that “earth” is an offensive term for a planet so dominantly covered in water), it’s an unsurprising turn.
What’s delightfully surprising is that the creatures aren’t entirely CG-based; the film’s credits include a robust team of puppeteers led by Olly Taylor, known for his puppetry on Star Wars films. In a market so oversaturated by green-screen aliens, like in superhero films, The Last House joins Backrooms, another film that stunningly utilized practical effects, as a promising indication that there’s still a heart for human artistry in Hollywood.
As The Last House barrels toward its thrilling conclusion, Louis Leterrier‘s direction brings the tension, but Matthew Robinson‘s screenplay falls victim to Netflix’s ongoing “second screen” issue. Voiceovers by Lee and Moura emphasize the urgency of the situation with an obviousness that should be clear to characters who have been trapped inside for several years. “They trapped us in here, thinking they would kill us,” Ann says of the creatures outside, rehashing her family’s entrapment like it hasn’t been an issue for the film’s entire runtime.
Wagner Moura and Greta Lee make the most of a script that’s fallen victim to the “Second Screen” issue.
It’s indicative of a greater issue with streaming content, where a character explains obvious information in case a viewer might be playing games on their phone while watching. Still, it detracts from the believability of The Last House‘s characters, treating them like hosts for exposition rather than real people. Moura and Lee, dependably compelling stars, are better than the dialogue they’re given, and elevate it as best as they can, but even the clunkiest dialogue is still jarring in capable hands.
The Last House works best as a family drama. Louis Leterrier’s direction believably brings the Delgados closer as the years go on in their house, cozily designed by Kevin Jenkins. If every member of the family were as well-rounded as Jason, it might be stronger than a mere sci-fi thriller for passing the time. But if you have plenty of time to kill, as the Delgados certainly do, The Last House isn’t a bad way to spend a couple of hours.
The Last House is now streaming exclusively on Netflix.
The Last House
6.5/10
TL;DR
The Last House works best as a family drama. If every member of the family were as well-rounded as Jason, it might be stronger than a mere sci-fi thriller for passing the time.