THE LAST HOUSE (NETFLIX) (2026)

SYNOPSIS: From director Louis Leterrier, starring Greta Lee and Wagner Moura. A family of four are suddenly sealed inside their home with no way out, and must work together to survive against both their dwindling resources and the mysterious, looming threat that is keeping them trapped. 

MOVIE REVIEW:

The Last House feels very much like an M. Night Shyamalan movie, but apparently the filmmaker famed for his unexpected plot twists had no part in it. In fact, the mystery thriller is written by Matthew Robinson, who previously gave us The Invention of Lying, Dora and the Lost City of Gold and the recent Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die.

Greta Lee (Past Lives) and Wagner Moura (Civil War) star as a married couple with two children who find themselves sealed inside their house after heavy rain starts to pour. It’s like the COVID-19 days, except they can only communicate with their neighbours using chalk and boards after the Wi-Fi and phone lines go down.

It seems everyone in the world is trapped. Without a constant flow of food supplies, our family of four is destined to die unless they can find ways to combat their hunger and survive. Fortunately, Daddy Jason is an engineer who knows how to trap wild animals for food, while Mommy Riley knows how to grow her own vegetables. But the question remains: who is trapping them inside the house? Aliens? Creatures? Or some mysterious “rain walkers” that daughter Ruth claims to have witnessed?

Instead of delivering an intriguing survival tale exploring paranoia or a complex conspiracy, the thriller spends the majority of its runtime detailing the frustration and despair of the family. Occasionally, in a feeble attempt to drum up suspense, an obscure mysterious entity is seen moving through the heavy rain. Is it the creature from Lady in the Water? Or some airborne neurotoxin from The Happening? Or, in this case, water droplets causing all the mayhem? Seriously, The Last House plays out like a string of ideas borrowed from Shyamalan’s most critically panned movies.

It comes as no surprise that the finale features some flashy CGI-enhanced action sequences, and that’s perhaps the one area where French filmmaker Louis Leterrier is most at home, considering he is the man behind The Incredible Hulk and Clash of the Titans. We won’t reveal what is behind the attacks, but all we can say is that it’s hardly much of a payoff, and probably not one that many viewers will care about, even if the ending hints at a sequel.

The Last House feels somewhat similar to the 2023 apocalyptic thriller Leave the World Behind. Both have promising premises and intriguing ideas, but both fizzle out so unspectacularly that you can’t help but wonder why Netflix continues to spend so much money and effort producing movies that ultimately end up being so forgettable.

MOVIE RATING:

Review by Linus Tee