Does The Dog Die In The Last House? Cassidy's Fate Explained

Spoilers for "The Last House" follow.

A new Netflix original arrived over the weekend, and despite having a neat premise and two strong lead actors, the results are kind of lousy. "The Last House" is a sci-fi thriller that feels like it was likely penned during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, because it deals with a family trapped in their homes. 

One day, it starts raining in Seattle (and, presumably, the entire world!), and husband Jason (Wagner Moura) and wife Ann (Greta Lee) and their kids discover they can't escape their suburban home. The door won't open and when they try to smash the windows, the broken glass quickly restores itself. They assume this will be a temporary problem, but it ends up being pretty damn permanent.

And oh yeah, the family has a dog. The dog, an beautiful elderly golden named Cassidy, seems doomed from the start simply because we know the family will inevitably run out of food and provisions. To make things worse, Cassidy is fed pills daily for his aging heart, and sure enough, those pills are bound to run out. So does poor Cassidy die? Sadly, yes. And it's a bummer.

At the very least, I was hoping "The Last House" would be silly but enjoyable (we even had the movie on our list of most-anticipated Netflix summer movies). Instead, it's a slog. The script is bad and while Moura and Lee are good actors, they struggle with this material and result to shouting at each other for the majority of the film. As for Cassidy, when his pills run out, Jason decides to do the merciful thing and ... shoot the dog to death.

I've talked about this on Slash Film Dot Com before, but I have a big problem with animal deaths (especially dogs) in movies and TV shows. I don't flinch when humans kick the bucket, but if you kill a dog, it puts me in a foul mood. So Cassidy's demise certainly didn't help my viewing experience, and it ends up being the first of many animal deaths to come.

With food running out, Jason decides to use Cassidy's remains as bait to lure wild animals (like foxes and raccoons) into a little trap he's built (we're told early he's an engineer). This leads to multiple scenes where one animal after another gets killed in the trap so Jason can feed his family. Eventually, everyone learns the truth behind what's causing the non-stop rain and all the other supernatural shenanigans, but honestly, it's pretty stupid. Rest In Peace, Cassidy. You deserved a better movie than this.