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Image: Netflix

Netflix has spent years proving that a movie doesn't need to win over critics to win over an audience. Bird Box became a global streaming phenomenon despite mixed reviews. The Sandra Bullock apocalypse thriller even got a spinoff, though Bird Box Barcelona failed to make quite the same impression. Earlier this year, War Machine scored a 66% on Rotten Tomatoes, but still managed to be one of Netflix's biggest films of 2026. And more recently, the horribly reviewed comedy 72 Hours (17% on Rotten Tomatoes) shot to the top of the streaming charts overnight.

Of course, it's no secret that mainstream audiences don't always agree with critics, but sometimes the critics also happen to just be wrong. That's arguably the case with Netflix's latest streaming sci-fi thriller, which has a 27% on Rotten Tomatoes but still managed to dominate the platform after debuting last Friday, Aug. 7. The Last House, Louis Leterrier’s 112-minute sci-fi thriller starring Greta Lee and Wagner Moura is already a global hit, according to FlixPatrol data, making it the latest poorly reviewed release to find a huge audience on the platform.

But here's the thing, unlike Bird Box Barcelona, The Last House is also a damn good movie.

What is The Last House about?

The Last House follows Jason (Wagner Moura) and Ann Delgado (Greta Lee), a married couple who suddenly find themselves trapped inside their suburban home with their two children. Every door and window has been sealed by an invisible force, and the same thing appears to be happening throughout their neighborhood. Meanwhile, a relentless rain pours outside, and the family begins spotting mysterious creatures moving through the storm.

With no way out and no idea what's happening, the Delgados are forced to survive on whatever they can find inside the house. Days become weeks and eventually years as food and other essentials dwindle, forcing the family to tear apart and repurpose their home just to stay alive.

Image: Netflix

It’s a surprisingly intimate setup for Leterrier, the director behind The Incredible Hulk, Fast X, and Now You See Me. In an interview with Polygon, Leterrier explained that Matthew Robinson’s screenplay immediately felt more personal than his usual projects. As a father, he recognized himself in a story about parents trying to keep their family alive.

“For the first time in my life, I was about to do something very personal, where I was seeing myself in it,” Leterrier said.

The Last House gets thrashed on Rotten Tomatoes

Image: Netflix

Despite its success on Netflix, critics haven't been particularly kind to The Last House, with many of the negative reviews praising its initial premise and performances before taking issue with where the story ultimately goes.

A common thread among negative reviews is that viewers enjoyed the central family and survival story but that the film got bogged down once the bigger sci-fi elements took hold. Critics praised Moura and Lee and the movie’s exploration of a family adapting to years of isolation, but some felt the nearly two-hour runtime stretched the contained premise too thin. Others took issue with its fairly obvious parallels to COVID lockdowns, particularly once the movie begins explaining its mysteries in the final act. And while the claustrophobic setup creates plenty of early tension, several reviews argued that the eventual creatures and climactic showdown aren't nearly as interesting as watching the Delgados simply figure out how to survive.

Polygon landed on the other side of that divide. Our review called The Last House "the best Steven Spielberg sci-fi thriller that Spielberg never made,” praising the family dynamic and the way Leterrier keeps the Delgados at the center of the story even as their situation becomes increasingly fantastical.

Whatever critics make of its final act, Netflix viewers clearly haven't been scared away. The Last House is another reminder that bad reviews don't mean much once a movie lands in front of hundreds of millions of subscribers.

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