The Last House It's an apocalyptic thriller with elements of cozy cinema: instead of surviving in a nuclear wasteland or something similar, the family at the center of the story spends almost all of the screen time in the comfort (well, relatively comfort) of their own home.
Yes, Jason (Wagner Moura) and Anne (Greta Lee) find themselves trapped in their home with their two children, their beloved dog, and their fish tank as a massive storm descends on their neighborhood. They quickly realize there's no way out—the doors won't open, the windows won't budge, and they won't even break—and the neighbors they see from their home are in the same predicament... only perhaps worse, because at least Jason and Anne have enough food to survive the brief storm.
However, when events drag on far longer than anyone expected, the situation becomes quite dark and dangerous for the family, and their home turns from a refuge to a prison. Here's the ending explained. «The Last House» . Warning: Spoilers for the ending follow. «The Last House» .
Who lives and who dies?
Almost no one survives the ensuing storm—at least, as far as we know. Although the family initially sees a few neighbors struggling through their windows for the first few months, hunger and hopelessness eventually claim most of their lives. However, the only deaths we see in the film are those of Mrs. Richardson, the dentist's wife who lives across the street from the family, and a woman trapped outside during the storm.
The family dog, Cass, dies after her heart medication runs out and Jason euthanizes her out of mercy, while their fish are killed by Graham (played by Noah Alexander Sosnowski and Gabriel Chang) to provide them with food at a critical moment when they are on the brink of starvation.
What caused the incident?
It's not entirely clear what caused the storm and the chaos that followed, but Ruth (played by Riley Chung as a young girl and Emma Ho as a teenager) offers the most likely theory: that the creatures belong to a previously unknown deep-sea species that has come ashore to reclaim Earth from humans.
These creatures are able to manipulate water and apparently trapped humans in their homes to starve them to death. They also secrete saltwater to destroy other creatures dependent on fresh water, including vegetation.
Chris Baker / Netflix
How long will this family last?
The family manages to survive in captivity for five years. They grow plants from vegetable seeds, which they prudently harvest using the house's subsoil. Thanks to a crack in the chimney and Jason's engineering skills, they are also able to devise a series of traps, which they hang outside (with meat from Cass's body, which the family refuses to eat) to catch wild animals and collect rainwater.
When Ruth becomes infected from a bite from a trapped ferret, Jason desperately digs a hole under the bathtub to find the drain, and Anne uses it to get to the house of her former neighbor, a dentist, to get antibiotics to save her life. Although Jason nearly dies trying to ram his repaired car through the garage door, he survives.
How it ends film "The Last House"« ?
After Anne encounters the creatures in the sewers and shoots one with her gun, one of the creatures breaks into the house and uses salt water to destroy the crops and the collected water supplies. They then decide to lure the creatures inside and set an elaborate trap to kill them.
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However, the creature floods the entire house, nearly thwarting their plan, and they are forced to breathe in the attic in a panic. After Graham finds the harpoon they planned to plant, they manage to disable the creature and capture it. Jason then demands that the creature release them from the house, as it is now sinking due to pre-existing structural damage and subsequent flooding, but it refuses. Ruth begs her father to show mercy to the creature, and when he does, the creature releases them and crawls away, preventing more of its kind from attacking the family.
The creatures then disappear, and the family finds a boat to set out to sea in search of a new home. A mysterious male voice finally answers their radio calls for help from survivors, though we never learn who it belongs to.
«The Last House» , is available to watch on Netflix.
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