Girls of Geek Movie Review: "House of Last Things"

Written by Scotty

There are instances people’s lives where they sometimes decided to change their entire personality.  This could come from the loss of a job, a loved one, even a family pet, but it seems to wake people up sometimes and make them believe that life is worth living.  When this happens however, some of their friends or family members do not appreciate their new outlook on life and the direction the person is going.  I am all for being your own person, but sometimes you have to listen to your friends if your attitude has changed that much, as you may not know it, but you have become someone that you never strived to be before.

Alan is getting ready to pick his wife up from the rehab clinic and surprise her with the trip of a lifetime, but is having problems getting the house ready for her arrival.  Wanting to get her mind off of everything that has happened in the house, Alan wants to take her away to Italy and start their marriage over on the right foot.  But Sarah is not ready to let go just yet and wants to have the opportunity to look around her home one last time, alone, to remember what she once had.  Alan has made all of the preparations for the trip, including hiring a house sitter to watch over the home while they are away. 

Kelly is a vetren house sitter and came recommended by the neighbors, or so Alan says when they are getting ready to leave the country for a week, but Kelly has more baggage than she has led on.  Inviting her little brother, whom she takes care of and her boyfriend Jesse, the house may never be the same again.  Jesse is a thief while young Tim is not all there, but there is something else happening to the happy crew in the house as they all seem to grow up just a little too fast.  While looking around the house, Jesse is trying to find a way to make some money while staying in the house and decides he will sell Alan’s car.  But when he is ready to meet with his buyer, Jesse gets cold feet and comes back to the house, but he is not alone.

Picking up a parentless boy, Adam, Jesse is ready to start a family with Kelly and now they have their first child.  Adam does not seem afraid of the young couple and becomes the foundation of their relationship.  Although Kelly wants to have the boy returned to his parents, Adam is not able to tell her where to take him.  But not everybody is happy in the house as Kelly’s little brother is not ready to be replaced and tries to take out the younger boy.  While Adam seems like he is just a normal boy, he is so much more to the house and is taking care of his elders, but he is frightened by something outside of the house and is not able to tell anybody why.

House of Last Things follows the stories of two different families.  Alan and Sarah who are on vacation, trying to get over a grave loss in their lives, while Kelly watches their house with her little brother and boyfriend Jesse.  Everything seems to be going so well for both parties when the vacation begins, but the house has different plans while it invades the house sitters minds with memories of how things used to be. Having different memories, feelings and thoughts being thrown into their heads, Jesse winds up kidnapping a little boy from the local supermarket and is ready to start a family with Kelly.  But Kelly wants nothing to do with this and demands the boy be returned to his parents, but young Adam does not know how to contact them.  Making himself helpful around the house, Adam becomes a fixture to his two young keepers and wants nothing more than to keep them happy.  But Adam is not able to do everything that he wants as he a fear of something outside of the house that might take him back to the place he actually belongs.

This is an interesting movie and I doubt I have done it justice.  With so many story swaps and memory changes, you know where you are in the story, but there is still something that you need to figure out.  I must admit that I am not a huge fan of flash backs these days, but this movie did a great job as you get to see how the house was when it was younger, along with short snippets of what happened in a previous life.  You will be left wondering how long the house has been this way and if others have had the same things happen to them as Kelly and Jesse are dealing with, but you might not get your wish, if you believe that the walls only have one story to tell.  Happy Viewing.

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