Netflix Sci-Fi Thriller Ranks #1 Worldwide Despite Poor Reviews

Netflix has spent years proving that a movie does not 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. More recently, the poorly reviewed comedy 72 Hours with its 17% score on Rotten Tomatoes shot to the top of the streaming charts overnight.

Mainstream audiences do not always agree with critics, and sometimes the critics happen to just be wrong. That is arguably the case with Netflix’s latest streaming sci-fi thriller, which holds a 27% rating on Rotten Tomatoes but managed to dominate the platform after debuting on Friday, August 7. The Last House, directed by Louis Leterrier and starring Greta Lee and Wagner Moura, runs 112 minutes. According to FlixPatrol data, it is already a global hit, making it the latest poorly reviewed release to find a massive audience on the platform.

Unlike Bird Box Barcelona, The Last House is also a strong movie.

What is The Last House about?

The Last House follows Jason, played by Wagner Moura, and Ann Delgado, played by Greta Lee. They are a married couple who suddenly find themselves trapped inside their suburban home with their two children. Every door and window is sealed by an invisible force, and the same phenomenon appears to happen throughout their neighborhood. A relentless rain pours outside, and the family begins spotting mysterious creatures moving through the storm.

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

The project marks 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 work. 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

Despite its success on Netflix, critics have not been kind to The Last House. Many negative reviews praise its initial premise and performances before taking issue with where the story goes.

A common thread among negative reviews is that viewers enjoyed the central family and survival story, but felt the film bogged down once the bigger sci-fi elements took hold. Critics praised Moura and Lee alongside 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 parallels to COVID lockdowns once the movie begins explaining its mysteries in the final act. While the claustrophobic setup creates early tension, several reviews argued that the eventual creatures and climactic showdown are not as interesting as watching the Delgados 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 have not been scared away. The Last House serves as another reminder that bad reviews do not mean much once a movie lands in front of hundreds of millions of subscribers.

Source: Polygon