Netflix’s The Last House takes a hodgepodge of films we’ve all seen before and spins a fantastical horror tale taking us all back to COVID times. Director Louis Leterrier (Now You See Me) and writer Matthew Robinson (Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die), present a solid concept, one that is sure to make you want to tune it for its almost two hour runtime. Yet, it fails to deliver on anything it promises. It’s evident that there is some ecological messaging somewhere in the script, but ultimately the film subjects viewers to an idea that works well on paper but not at all on screen.
Family Lockdown
Jason (Wagner Moura) is preparing to take his family to find a Christmas tree, but the kids aren’t able to open the front door. When his wife, Ann (Greta Lee) is finally dressed, she too joins in to desperately find an exit. After using a fire poker to try to break the windows, the family quickly accepts that there is no way out. Using a chalkboard, Jason and Ann communicate with the neighbors, realizing that they aren’t alone in this, which helps them breathe a little easier for the time being. That is until their daughter, Ruth starts seeing something outside when it rains.
What follows is a long, drawn out timeline of the family dealing with being stuck inside for days, weeks, months, then years. There is no internet and eventually, no power. They ration and grow food, watch the same two DVDs over and over, and deal with the emotional turmoil of trying to survive whatever is happening around them. When we should be getting to know this family, rooting for them, there is no chemistry between this couple and very little character development to hold on to. I’m not rooting for them, I’m just waiting to get to something worth watching.
This is why a film like A Quiet Place works so well. It drops us in a world where things have already happened. The Last House spends 75% of the runtime showing us what this family does in this house as things unfold outside, which slows down the storytelling and makes for a boring watch. There is no depth, just “here’s what we did that day”, for many days.
It’s About Something, I Think?
For a film that has a lot to say, it doesn’t do anything groundbreaking. Should we be buying more books and physical media? Should we be taking better care of the planet? The oceans? Learning how to grow our own food (especially in a time when even our lettuce is killing us)? Well, sure. But while The Last House chases those themes, it doesn’t give anything for us to hold on to after the fact. It all just falls flat and feels as empty as the relationship is between Ann and Jason. COVID happened to all of us, and many of us are still dealing with its ramifications years later. The core of what that means for us, the real horror of that, is what’s missing here.
