The Last House Review: Good But Not Really

“The Last House” is a well-written film with an interesting premise and talented actors — but it’s also not very good.

Directed by Sean Cain (“Silent Night”), “The Last House” is a sadistic thriller in which an escort (Lauren Walsh) is kidnapped by a trio of escaped mental patients. Their leader, named Hate (Ezra Buzzington), has an unpredictable temper and some twisted views on the nature of God and the status of humanity.

Before responding to the client’s call that landed her in this hellhole in the first place, Walsh’s character, Love, tried to walk away from prostitution. Her pimp, however, would not let her leave so easily, and she agreed to work one more night. She did this in hopes of exploring a blossoming relationship with one of her returning clients, Ned (Jason Mewes).

Love and Ned’s chemistry is undeniable. Some of the more memorable moments are when we see the two together, enjoying each other’s company and talking about their future. Unfortunately, Mewes’ character doesn’t play much of a role outside of flashbacks.

Speaking of, the film’s timeline is a bit tricky. You won’t fully get a grasp of things until the end, and even then you’ll probably be confused. It’s something you need to take a minute to think about.

While the beginning and end of the film are all right, it’s the middle that ruins it. When the horror/psycho-sexual thriller aspect comes around, things just get weird. One scene goes a little too long with two girls sucking each other’s toes, and after a while you just want to skip to the next scene. But guess what? It doesn’t get much better.

“The Last House” has a strong cast. Walsh, Mewes and Buzzington in particular deliver great performances. Walsh and Mewes have each other for support, but Buzzington is on his own. The other two in his trio don’t share his importance and are kind of there to weed out the rest of the inessential characters such as Caleb (Ricardo Gray). Oh, man. Caleb. Ricardo’s character is not only played terribly, but he’s also annoying and an odd fit for the film. His scenes are easily the weakest ones — and considering there is a lot of toe sucking, that speaks volumes.

Despite its secondary characters monstrously tearing at the film’s appeal, “The Last House” is kept afloat by its perplexing undertones that touch on the battle between love vs. hate and good vs. evil. Who is Hate, and why is he targeting Love? The film feels a lot less meaningful when you ask these questions. Maybe it’s not some mindless film made as an excuse to show boobs and blood.

“The Last House” isn’t a good film, but it’s a good idea. It’s a film you’ll watch and probably not enjoy, but later that day you won’t be able to help but talk about it; nevertheless, the main cast has too much weight on its shoulders and fails to hold on long enough to make up for the poor performances making up the inadequate sequences toward the center of the film.