Netflix's High-Concept Sci-Fi Thriller Defies Polarizing Reviews With Streaming Dominance

Netflix's new sci-fi thriller is pushing its way past negative reviews to achieve streaming success.

For many, Netflix remains a go-to streaming service, offering not only countless licensed titles, but also a plethora of original shows and movies. In terms of sci-fi content, Dark remains one of Netflix's most celebrated offerings, and other titles like Stranger Things and Black Mirror have also been wildly popular. When it comes to feature films, recent releases include War Machine (2026), Spaceman (2024), Atlas (2024), They Cloned Tyrone (2023), Spiderhead (2022), and I Am Mother (2019). Now, another sci-fi thriller is here.

Following its release on August 7, Netflix's The Last House now stands as the number one most popular movie on the streaming service in the U.S. The movie, which hails from director Louis Leterrier, comes ahead of other titles like In the Land of Saints and Sinners (2023), 72 Hours (2026), Minions (2015), and His, Hers & Ours (2025).

Starring Wagner Moura and Greta Lee, The Last House follows a family of four who become trapped within their home with no way out when a mysterious threat looms outside. Though the film is clearly proving enticing to subscribers, its streaming success comes amidst lackluster reviews.

On Rotten Tomatoes, The Last House currently holds a negative critics' score of 38% from 29 reviews. The audience-driven Popcornmeter score, generated from over 250 reviews, is even worse at only 26%.

ScreenRant's own The Last House review by Alex Harrison was overwhelmingly negative at a score of only two out of 10. Harrison calls the sci-fi "one of the worst movies of the year so far," praising the production value while taking issue with just about everything else. He writes:

The script, by Matthew Robinson, elicits many different types of groans. It's overly cheesy at times, awkwardly expository at others. Leterrier's hurried pacing ensures that we never really feel the gravity of the situation they're in, and the bouncing cuts are a constant irritant at best, actually disorienting at worst. Together, these things kill any interest in the bigger picture.

When reviews are this poor for a film, it's possible that viewership success will be short-lived. The Last House clearly won't be benefiting from any word of mouth, and unlike poorly reviewed Netflix movies like Red Notice (2021) and The Gray Man (2022), there aren't any major movie stars to make up for shortcomings in the filmmaking or storytelling.

The Last House, then, may currently be a viewership success, but it's continuing a disappointing Netflix trend. 72 Hours, another Netflix original, was lambasted by critics last month, while originals like Enola Holmes 3 and Apex were met with a more lukewarm reception.

It remains to be seen whether The Last House will continue its domination of the Netflix top 10 chart, but, reviews aside, the movie is clearly off to a strong start. This viewership success, however, only makes it more disappointing that the movie itself isn't better.