Inside the Flooded Set of Netflix’s “The Last House”

Netflix’s sci-fi thriller *The Last House* required a fully functional, reinforced structure capable of withstanding the weight of water and the physical presence of cast and crew. Production designer Kevin Jenkins and director Louis Leterrier oversaw the build of a real house that could be deliberately damaged and flooded in stages. The set was reconstructed in three phases so that rooms could be “controlled destruction while maintaining continuity,” allowing the house to visibly degrade as the story progressed. Large-scale water tanks, developed with the Marine Department, enabled the interior to flood progressively, creating a “storm” and “hurricane” effect inside the home.

Radio Times

The first half of the film was shot on 35 mm film; the second half transitioned to digital to evoke a Spielberg-style aesthetic. Leterrier insisted on using “big clunky 1980s cameras” and tungsten lighting rather than LEDs, matching the visual language of classic cinema. Real plants, tomatoes, rain, and captured wildlife were grown or sourced on set, ensuring that “everything is real from the animals to the rain to the plants inside.” The production also employed both spherical and anamorphic lenses, tracking them to maintain consistency across the two filming formats.

Radio Times

Leterrier described the experience as “the most difficult” of his career, noting that building and repeatedly modifying the house proved “brutal.”

Radio Times

• “So the first day, you're like, 'Hey, it's cool.' Second day, 'Oh, yeah.' And then you keep going. It's never-ending. It becomes your private hell. Kevin Jenkins, our production designer and myself, we took time just to really design this house for the camera and for the story.” — Netflix. Leterrier, director

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• “Everything is real from the animals to the rain to the plants inside," Leterrier told Radio Times.” — Louis Leterrier, director

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• “It's a community experience because you're dirty, you get sick, the water stinks, it's the worst,” — Louis Leterrier, director

Radio Times