The Last House – Movie Review

TL;DR – This is a film that is trying something, but it is working in a space where other contemporaries have excelled.  

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There is no post-credit scene.

Disclosure – I paid for the Netflix subscription used to watch this film.

Water filling in the cracks of shattered glass.

The Last House Review Introduction

Today we are looking at something that is becoming increasingly rare in modern cinema: a genuinely original film. Not adapted, not spun off, and not based on a toy from 50 years ago. Given how uncommon these projects have become, I knew I had to give The Last House a watch.

So, to set the scene, one Sunday morning a surprise rainstorm appeared on the horizon. It felt like a normal day, but then the internet failed. But even stranger was the fact that none of the doors or windows would open. That’s okay, because you can break windows, right? No, the glass cracks but doesn’t break. Now, you and everyone you know are stuck in their houses, with only the food you happened to have inside.

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KPop Demon Hunters – Movie Review

TL;DR – Half Musical, Half Action Romp, Half Romance, Half Meditation on the Power of Art, Half Exploration on the Consuming Power of Shame, and All Style.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There is a mid-credit scene.

Disclosure – I paid for the Netflix service to view this film.

Huntrix fights a wave of demons on the top of a train.

KPop Demon Hunters Review Introduction

As we get to our final films from 2025 before we write our best-of lists, it becomes very clear that no list would feel right if I didn’t engage with the most-streamed movie of the year. If any film has earned the right to be declared a cultural phenomenon this year, it would probably be this. It would be wrong to look at the year without exploring something with such a large cultural impact. Well, then, it is time to dive in and see if it lives up to all the accolades.  

So, to set the scene, throughout history, there have been demons escaping into our world to steal souls that are used as power by their dark lord Gwi-Ma (Lee Byung-hun). However, throughout history, there have always been those with strength of voice and character who have fought back and banished these demons back to the world they spawned from. Every generation, there are a new trio of Hunters that use their voices to reinforce the barrier between the worlds, the Honmoon. The current generation is a K-Pop band Huntrix featuring Rumi (Arden Cho/Ejae), Mira (May Hong/Audrey Nuna) & Zoey (Ji-young Yoo/Rei Ami). When a demon incursion goes very wrong, things get tense in the underworld because soon the Honmoon will turn golden and the demons will be stopped forever. It is this moment of desperation when the demon Jinu (Ahn Hyo-seop/Andrew Choi) comes up with a novel plan to defeat Huntrix: go after their fans by creating a demon boy band called Saja Boys.    

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