The Last House was an often thought provoking end of the world movie that was absolutely ruined by that ending. Starring Wagner Moura and Greta Lee, it tells the story of a family trapped inside of a house by some mysterious rain. And it’s supposed to be a way for the movie to address how we are polluting or destroying our world. Or at least that’s what I think it meant because that ending is making me side-eye everything I watched or thought I knew.
Let’s backtrack a little bit.
In the beginning of the movie, we get taken through this shot of the ocean, and there are clear signs of pollution. When this mysterious rain starts happening, the family is basically put into a fish tank by creatures from the sea just like humans do to creatures from the sea. And kudos to the set design department for creating a home that these characters can live in, thrive in, and lose their minds in. Set design is a part of The Last House that is still perfect despite the writing choices of this film.
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When it comes to the mental state of these humans stuck in this house, I enjoyed the beginning of The Last House. I liked how these two parents immediately locked in and were trying to create an engaging environment for their children to not lose their minds. And I understand that after a couple years, even their best efforts aren’t going to help them when the rain turns out to be actual creatures that kill humans and that the little girl somehow has a connection with.
This is where The Last House absolutely biffs it.
We’ve seen plenty of movies before where a young girl connects with a mysterious creature. And presenting it in this movie was a clear vehicle for the girl understanding said mysterious creature and somehow leading to their safety. But the movie spent no time showing the creatures’ motivations or the relationship between this young girl and the creature itself. So when the ending happens, after all this buildup and development for the humans within this home, it feels out of left field.
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The ending of The Last House makes no sense because there is no setup for the little girl, now a young woman, to understand that the monsters are intelligent and benevolent. The mercy that they afford this monster or sea creature, it means nothing because there is no emotional weight behind the choice or set up to make you think it’ll happen in the first place. It’s even worse when this family gets outside and all of a sudden the one that was given mercy defends the humans. Why? Because it makes more sense for the creatures to tear these humans apart just like they did to that neighbor that was caught out in the rain.
The ending only gets worse for The Last House when these mysterious monsters from the sea decide that this one act of mercy is enough for them to return to the ocean and give up their reign of terror. Again, why? We don’t know these creatures, we don’t know what they have learned, and most importantly we don’t know their purpose. The family doesn’t know their purpose. And you can argue that maybe the purpose isn’t needed, but it is when you introduce the movie with how humans are polluting our oceans and what seems like to be these creatures home.
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If anything, I think the creatures left because they did what they set out to do. They destroyed the human population as a means of protecting their home. If you were in your home, you died from starvation. And if you were outside, they killed you. It makes more sense that they did what they set out to do and they are ready to go back home than whatever family or the girl did. The fact that I have to sit here and think about this mysterious purpose because the movie gave us none makes it so the ending of The Last House is flat and inspires no joy at their freedom.
Unfortunately, the ending of The Last House also makes you look back at the movie as a whole with no idea what the purpose of the humans was. Was the purpose of The Last House that we don’t do it alone? Or was it a microcosm of parents raising their children for the next generation? Was it to not destroy creatures’ homes like humans did to the sea creatures? The fact that I can’t pinpoint the purpose of this movie thanks to the ending, hurts this movie in a fundamental way and exposes a lack of purpose from minute one of The Last House.
The Last House is now streaming on Netflix.
