Spoiler Warning: This article contains spoilers for The Last House.Within just two days of landing on Netflix, The Last House landed in the platform’s number one slot. Despite a current Rotten Tomatoes critics’ score of 27% and an audience score of 28% (from over 500 ratings), the movie continues to attract viewers. The film stars Greta Lee and Wagner Moura as Ann and Jason Delgado, two parents trying to navigate a strange crisis as the entire world seems to be locked inside their homes. Days become months and then years. The mystery keeps the audience engaged, and we even see some unique alien-like figures, while we ponder what we would do in a similar situation.
Despite abysmal reviews, The Last House has gotten people talking. The premise alone, regardless of one’s opinion on its execution, sparks a range of questions. After we watched the film, my wife started looking around our house, thinking about how long we could survive if we were locked in, possibly for years. Watching the Delgados, with their children and dog, cope with food rationing, dig through floorboards to reach soil for crops, and devise ways to siphon rainwater into the home when the utilities finally go out makes us all wonder if this kind of survival would even be possible for anyone among us.
The Survival Question in ‘The Last House’ Keeps Us Thinking
With so much of the plot hinging on survival techniques, The Last House had a survival consultant on set. Megan Hine, who has worked with survivalist and TV personality Bear Grylls, kept the production focused on how the family would meet basic needs like getting the right amount of sleep, exercising when they can’t leave the house, finding food, maintaining shelter, and making fire. Can we grow crops with minimal sunlight? Could we create animal traps to set outside even if we don’t have an engineer’s brain like Jason’s?
Hine told Netflix.tudum.com:
“Thinking outside of the box in a survival situation is absolutely key.” A turning point in the film happens when the family realizes they can get things in and out of the chimney. This gives Delgados their opening — literally — but creativity, teamwork, and routine are what keep them alive for five years.”
Now, look around your home and see what you can use for survival if you were locked in for five years or more. Would you make it?
‘The Last House’ Ending Keeps Us Talking
Any good science-fiction movie should have an ending that makes us think long after the credits end. The lessons in The Last House transcend the film, making what some consider a mediocre outing at the cinema (or living room flat-screen) still very much worth the two-hour runtime.
Wagner Moura looks at his character Jason, thinking: “What he wanted is not what he needed.” While he was justifiably determined to help keep the family alive, he “overlooked something more special.” His daughter, Ruth (Riley Chung), can understand the alien’s messaging. That understanding ultimately saves the family.
Director Louis Leterrier sees the ending as a relevant message for humanity. The aliens in the movie want humans “to learn how to live together” without constantly trying to dominate everything in their path. There is something about the harmony found after all the struggle that makes us wonder not only if we could survive in this situation, but also how the experience would change us.
When the Delgados finally get outside, before the credits, they hear a voice on the radio. Leterrier says that voice is from “a very, very, very iconic person,” but he won’t spill the beans about who it is.
So, once we’ve thought about the terrifying questions surrounding our own mortality, start taking guesses at who is on the other end of that radio transmission. Also, if you’re in Los Angeles, say hi to the guy trapped in the billboard for The Last House on Sunset Boulevard.
