The Last Night at Tremore Beach – Review | Netflix

THE LAST NIGHT AT TREMORE BEACH on Netflix is a new Spanish thriller mystery series (org. title: La última noche en Tremor). It’s slow-burn with eight episodes, but every episode ending packs a punch. Read our full The Last Night at Tremore Beach series review here!

THE LAST NIGHT AT TREMORE BEACH is a new Netflix psychological mystery thriller series from Spain (org. title: La última noche en Tremore). The story is quite fascinating and the actors are great, but it’s slow. Very slow.

Still, there is plenty to keep you coming back. Including a main character who may be losing his mind or has unlocked a special ability after being hit by lightning. By the end of episode 2 (out of eight), you should know which, so that isn’t the mystery.

Continue reading our review of The Last Night at Tremore Beach series below. Find all eight episodes on Netflix from October 25, 2024.

When lightning strikes

When we first meet Alex, he is a musician and composer in a huge crisis. From the opening scene, you’ll understand at least part of why he is struggling. It’s a pretty nasty moment. Then there’s a time jump and now Alex is living alone in a coastal village, Tremor (or “Tremore”) to recover and finish a new piece for a movie.

There’s only a landline telephone, so mobile or wi-fi is not an option. Good for solitude to work, but not so good in times of trouble. As we will all come to learn soon enough.

However, everything is about to change when Alex is struck by lightning one night.

After this, which is brutal enough in itself, Alex starts sleepwalking. He sees things, clear as day, that are not there. Is he suffering from a mental illness like his mother, or could it be that he is seeing the future somehow?

Trying to make sense of it all

His only nearby neighbors are a married couple living in the next house. After the lightning strike, he has many “dreams” about them. Usually with a very brutal outcome.

Also, in the nearby town, he’s met Judy and they’re having a “friends with benefits” situation. Judy is from Toulouse and is also trying to get her life back. They’ve agreed to not be serious, as they both have plenty of trauma and issues to deal with.

So far, so good.

Even before getting hit by lightning, Alex kept hearing Judy say “Don’t leave the house”, and this line will continue to haunt him. Often he hears her even if she isn’t around.

Both Alex and us viewers will slowly be able to solve the puzzle, but it takes quite some time to get there. I suspect many viewers will guess certain elements long before Alex does.

As Alex, we have Javier Rey (Unknown Origins), who delivers a nuanced and intense portrayal of a man falling apart. Ana Polvorosa (Cable Girls) is his co-star as Judy.

As the neighbors, we see Willy Toledo (The Minions of Midas) and Pilar Castro (Someone Has to Die, Piggy).

Extreme slow-burn with many repetitions

Despite the impressive performances, watching The Last Night at Tremore Beach is quite a marathon. With eight episodes and runtimes varying from just under one hour to around 1 hour and 20 minutes, it’s hardly a quick watch.

Nor does it need to be, necessarily, but the story can’t carry a pace this slow.  We’re talking feature-length episodes and that makes for slow-burn storytelling. Too slow. Also, there is quite a lot of repetition.

The latter is a natural consequence of the main character getting premonitions and seeing things before they happen. Or is it all in his mind? You can’t be sure at first.

For me, the final episode almost made me lose my own damn mind. There’s a shot of the main character’s son hyperventilating and I swear we go back to watching him over and over (and over) again. Before long, I felt like hyperventilating.

There’s making a point and then there’s just being grossly excessive. For this series, it was often excessive in terms of repetition.

Still, it’s a good story. I just wish it had been told in a better way overall!

Watch The Last Night at Tremore Beach on Netflix now!

The Last Night at Tremore Beach comes from creator and director Oriol Paulo. He previously worked on The Innocent, God’s Crooked Lines, and Mirage. If you’ve watched any of these, then you’ll recognize elements in this series as well.

Also, he wrote Julia’s Eyes (2010) and El Cuerpo (2012). That last one has been remade in both South Korea and India. For this new Netflix series, the inspiration comes from the best-selling novel of the same name by author Mikel Santiago.

The Netflix series version of The Last Night at Tremore Beach, was written by Oriol Paulo himself, alongside Jordi Vallejo (El Pacto) and Lara Sendim (God’s Crooked Lines).

As mentioned, this Spanish Netflix series is very slow-burn and repetitive, but there is a reason for the latter. Also, it’s a redeeming quality that each episode ends with something wild and is usually very high-intensity.

That should keep you coming back for more. Plus the fact that the final episode gives you answers to all the questions posed throughout the series. Hang in there, but prepare for one long final episode as well.

The Last Night at Tremore Beach is on Netflix on October 25, 2024.

Details

Director: Oriol Paulo
Script: Oriol Paulo, Jordi Vallejo, Lara Sendim
Stars: Javier Rey, Ana Polvorosa, Willy Toledo, Pilar Castro