House of Last Things Synopsis & Review: Plot Summary

🎯 Quick Overview

😅 Plot Summary – Badly Explained

People go to Italy, a house-sitter kidnaps a kid with her sketchy boyfriend and brother, the house gets weird, and everyone realizes they’re living inside a metaphor.

🍿 House of Last Things: Detailed Plot Synopsis

House Sitting in Portland

The film introduces Sarah, recently returned home from a mental institution in Portland, Oregon. Her husband, Alan, a classical music critic, plans a trip to Italy and hires a young woman named Kelly as a house sitter. After Alan and Sarah depart, Kelly is unexpectedly joined by her boyfriend, Jesse, a small-time criminal, and her brother, Tim. Their stay in the seemingly ordinary house quickly takes an unsettling turn.

An Uninvited Guest and Strange Occurrences

Jesse, acting impulsively, kidnaps a young boy named Adam from a supermarket, planning to ransom him. Despite Kelly’s protests, Adam is brought to the house. As Adam settles in, strange, surreal events begin to unfold within the house, affecting Kelly, Jesse, and Tim. The atmosphere shifts, and the lines between reality and hallucination become blurred, hinting at a darker history connected to the house itself.

⚠️ Spoilers and Ending Explained

🎬 Cast & Characters

• Kelly (Lindsey Haun): The young house sitter who becomes entangled with her boyfriend, brother, and the house’s mysterious past.
• Jesse (Blake Berris): Kelly’s criminal boyfriend who kidnaps a boy and is transformed by the haunted house.
• Tim (RJ Mitte): Kelly’s brother who stays at the house and is caught in its strange reality alongside his sister and Jesse.
• Alan (Randy Schulman): The house owner and classical music critic who takes his wife on a trip to Italy while hiding a dark secret connected to the house and Adam.
• Sarah (Diane Dalton): Alan’s wife who returns from a mental institution and travels to Italy, where secrets about their past tragedy are revealed.
• Adam (Micah Nelson): A mysterious eight-year-old boy kidnapped by Jesse who seems to possess an otherworldly influence over the house and its occupants.

💬 Memorable Quotes

• Kelly: “[being sincere] What’s your name… mine’s Mary” – One of the first lines in the film, delivered by Kelly, possibly as she interacts with the mysterious boy, Adam.
• Adam: “[abruptly] No… It’s Not” – One of the very first lines spoken in the movie, setting a tone of abrupt mystery.

💰Box Office

• Budget: N/A
• Domestic Gross: N/A
• Worldwide Gross: N/A

💥 House of Last Things Reviews

Personal Review

Okay, so ‘House of Last Things’ is definitely *not* what I expected, and honestly, I’m still trying to piece it all together! It starts off feeling like a pretty standard thriller setup with the house-sitters and the creepy house, but then it just spirals into this incredibly weird, trippy experience. Some of the visuals really stuck with me, like the golf balls and the strange occurrences with everyday objects. It felt less like a ghost story and more like the house was messing with everyone’s minds. The actors did a great job portraying the growing confusion and unease, especially Jesse’s transformation which was just bizarre and compelling. It wasn’t always easy to follow, and I definitely had moments where I was just like, ‘What is even happening right now?’ But in the end, I appreciated that it didn’t spoon-feed you everything. It’s a movie that makes you think and leaves you with this lingering, unsettling feeling long after the credits roll. If you like movies that are more about mood and mystery than jump scares, give this one a shot.

• Who would enjoy:
  • “Fans of surreal or experimental films”
  • “Viewers who appreciate psychological thrillers over gore”
  • “Those interested in films with ambiguous or open-ended narratives”
  • “Fans of directors like David Lynch or early Hitchcock”
• Content warnings ⚠:
  • “Psychological distress and themes of grief”
  • “Brief nudity and suggestive content”
  • “Disturbing or unsettling imagery”
  • “Non-linear or confusing narrative elements”

Professional Reviews

• Indie Film Observer: “A fascinatingly surreal journey, ‘House of Last Things’ excels in crafting a unique, dreamlike atmosphere. While its non-linear narrative might frustrate some seeking clear answers, the film offers rich visual language and compelling character transformations. The acting, particularly from the younger leads, adds depth to this psychological puzzle box. It’s a bold, artful departure from genre norms, rewarding patient viewers with its unsettling mood and symbolic weight.
• Genre Fanatics: “Despite flashes of intriguing imagery, ‘House of Last Things’ ultimately buckles under its own pretension. The plot feels deliberately obtuse, confusing rather than compelling. While aiming for Lynchian or Kubrickian heights, it often lands closer to student film incoherence. The pacing is slow, and the ‘supernatural’ elements, like floating objects, border on unintentionally silly. Only recommended for those with extreme patience and a high tolerance for ambiguity.

Audience Reactions

People were divided, with some praising its artistic, surreal style and others finding it confusing and slow.: Many viewers appreciated the unique, psychological approach over typical horror tropes, the acting, and the distinctive visual style.

Specific imagery like yellow balloons, golf balls, and apples left a strong, if often perplexing, impression.: The film’s atmosphere and mood, often described as dreamlike or unsettling, were frequently mentioned as highlights by its fans.

Overall Consensus: Highly divisive; praised by some for its artistic, surreal, psychological depth and visuals, but criticized by others for its confusing plot and slow pace.

Awards

🛠️ Behind the Scenes

• “This film marks RJ Mitte’s first role in a feature film after his breakout role as Walter White Jr. in ‘Breaking Bad’. He drove from Los Angeles to the filming location in Portland, Oregon with his family and four pet dogs.”
• “While the story is set in Portland, Oregon, the hotel and restaurant scenes depicting Italy were actually filmed at the Hotel deLuxe in Portland.”

🖥️ How to Watch House of Last Things?

Finding ‘House of Last Things’ (also known as ‘The Last House’) may require checking various digital platforms. Look for options to stream, rent, or purchase on major Video On Demand services like Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV (iTunes), Vudu, and Google Play Movies. Physical media such as DVD or Blu-ray might also be available from online retailers.

🎥 Similar Movies

If you enjoyed House of Last Things, you might like these similar films:

• The Shining (1980): Shares a focus on psychological breakdown within an isolated house, where the location seems to influence and distort the characters’ reality and sanity, dealing with an unspoken tragedy.
• Don’t Look Now (1973): Explores themes of grief, disorientation, and supernatural phenomena intertwined with psychological distress, using fragmented narratives and unsettling atmosphere similar to this film’s approach.
• Blue Velvet (1986): Features a surreal, unsettling small-town atmosphere where dark secrets are unearthed, creating a sense of psychological dread and blurring the lines between reality and nightmare, fitting the film’s Lynchian comparisons.
• The Haunting (1963): A classic example of psychological horror focusing on the effect of a house’s history on its inhabitants, relying on atmosphere and suggestion rather than explicit gore, much like this film is described.
• It Follows (2014): A modern indie horror that creates a pervasive sense of dread and an unsettling, surreal atmosphere through unique visual style and a narrative that feels like a waking nightmare, resonating with the film’s ‘mind-bending’ and ‘twisted’ descriptions.

🛒 House of Last Things Related Products

• The Last House (House of Last Things) Digital Rental or Purchase: Own or rent the mind-bending psychological thriller ‘House of Last Things’ digitally to rewatch and unravel its many mysteries at your own pace.
• House of Last Things Movie Poster: A haunting movie poster featuring key symbolic imagery from the film, such as the house, a yellow balloon, or an apple tree.
• Classical Music for Thrillers: An Ambient Collection: An album compilation featuring classical pieces similar in mood and style to the film’s score, curated for fans of psychological thrillers.
• Symbolic Yellow Balloon Collectible Figure: A small, stylized collectible figure of a single yellow balloon, representing one of the film’s most persistent and unsettling visual motifs.

🎧 Soundtrack

House of Last Things features a captivating soundtrack that enhances the movie’s atmosphere and emotional impact. Here are some notable tracks:

• “Goldberg Variations, BWV 988: Aria” – performed by Johann Sebastian Bach
• “Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune (Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun)” – performed by Claude Debussy
• “Piano Sonata No. 14 in C-sharp minor, Op. 27 No. 2 ‘Moonlight’: I. Adagio sostenuto” – performed by Ludwig van Beethoven
• “Lacrimosa (from Requiem in D Minor)” – performed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

You can find the complete soundtrack on Amazon Music and Apple Music.

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