The Last House, Aug. 11 -- LOS ANGELES - Before the first trailer dropped, Netflix installed a furnished replica of the film's suburban home on Sunset Boulevard and invited one of the cast to live inside it. Passersby stopped to watch through the billboard's facade. The stunt was deliberately strange. So is what happened next.

Shadows of a Woman, and Liam Neeson's In the Land of Saints and Sinners. The audience score on the same platform sits in similarly low territory. This was not a case of critics missing what viewers loved. Both groups found the film wanting. Audiences watched anyway.

Empire called it "Netflix's latest attempt at the next Bird Box" and wrote that it "doesn't fully utilise its acting talents, but the premise is fun e...