Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)
‘The Last House’ premise sounds a little like the dystopian horror film ‘A Quiet Place‘ with a twist: humans find themselves trapped in their own homes, with no way of getting out, while mysterious alien-like creatures take over the world.
Directed by Louis Leterrier (The Incredible Hulk, The Transporter), ‘The Last House’ stars Greta Lee and Wagner Moura as protagonists Ann and Jason, a married couple trying to survive the terrifying ordeal of being locked in their home like prisoners. Any attempt to break out proves futile, as something supernatural keeps them inside. It’s the same for all their neighbors. So the couple quickly shifts into survival mode and does all they can to keep their children, Ruth (Riley Chung) and Graham (Noah Alexander Sosnowski), safe.
Christmas is around the corner, but there is no sense of cheer in the neighborhood. Instead, the family of four must contend with dwindling supplies, find ways to grow food, and somehow survive as they remain locked tightly in their home. Days, weeks, months, the nightmare seems never-ending, although Ann and Jason establish new rules and routines to ensure the indefinite lockdown-type situation remains under their control, and thus a significant chunk of ‘The Last House’ is quite domesticated, with just little hints of unknown threats lurking outside.
The Last House isn’t subtle about its central metaphor, reducing humans to little more than fish trapped in a tank by a superior species. Yet for all the potential of that idea, the film rarely makes their confinement feel truly suffocating, failing to capture the loss of freedom, personal space, and community that should define such an existence.
While the child actors are entertaining, Greta Lee and Wagner Moura often feel more like co-workers than a loving couple. And in some emotional scenes, Lee’s outbursts come across as rehearsed, making Ann’s terror feel weak and unconvincing. Wagner Moura as the tinkerer husband-dad, doesn’t leave much of an impact either.
The creators fail to build a steady sense of dread across the almost two-hour runtime and seem confused about what they were ultimately aiming for. This could’ve been a fantastic psychological horror drama or a disturbing end-of-the-world dystopian science-fiction or maybe even a wild post apocalyptic thriller like ‘Leave the World Behind’, but instead, the film sits awkwardly between genres and is almost never scary. And while the first half makes the whole locked-in situation sound global, the climactic conflict has the family of four conveniently pitted against just one lone creature.
“We are just lucky,” Ann aptly screams at her husband at one point, claiming their survival is largely down to luck, and she isn’t wrong. The fact that they outlive so many others feels like a movie miracle. I guess ‘The Last House’ is best enjoyed by viewers in the mood for a low-stakes creature horror film, although calling it that might be generous, considering the creatures themselves occupy maybe 10% of the runtime. It’s mildly entertaining and very very forgettable.
The Last House is on Netflix.
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