The Housemaid (2025) - Review

Rating: 4 out of 5

PAUL Feig has delivered something of a 90s throwback with The Housemaid, a sexy, twisty, provocative thriller that thrives on the way it continually pulls the rug out from under you.

Based on the 2022 best-seller from Freida McFadden, the film also owes more than a passing resemblance to thrillers such as The Hand That Rocks The Cradle and Sleeping With The Enemy in the way that it combines psycho-suspense with elements of erotic noir and pulp fiction.

As with Feig’s best work (from Bridesmaids and Spy to the first A Simple Favour) it also puts a feminist spin on proceedings by placing two powerhouse female performances front and centre, enabling some sly social commentary on misogyny and surviving abuse.

But that’s perhaps a spoiler, given how tightly wrapped a lot of the film’s secrets are.

The story opens as down on her luck Millie (Sydney Sweeney) nervously heads to an interview for the job of live-in housemaid to the wealthy couple that lives in a plush upstate New York mansion, hoping that her prospective employers will not notice the worrying inconsistencies in her CV or discover her prison record.

But she is quickly embraced and employed by Nina Winchester (Amanda Seyfried), who appears desperate to connect and hire her, while also lining her up to look after her young daughter, Cece (Indiana Elle) - a somewhat creepy young girl who seems immediately more sceptical of Millie.

Just a day into getting the job, however, the dream role becomes a nightmare. Her bedroom, for starters, feels creepy (given the lack of an opening window and a deadbolt door lock on the outside). While the super smiley Nina soon starts blaming Millie for everything that goes wrong in the house, while sadistically setting her up for falls.

Nina’s handsome husband, Andrew (Brandon Sklenar), is somehow oblivious to his wife’s mood swings and seemingly dotes on her, while reassuring Millie that all will be well.

But then Millie finds herself attracted to him…

To reveal too much more would be doing the film a disservice, suffice to say that very little is as it seems and Feig has plenty of twists up his sleeve, including a go-for-broke final act that descends into full-on horror.

It’s testament to Feig’s control over proceedings, however, that viewers should be more than willing to go with the flow, thanks also to the committed performances of its leading ladies.

Seyfried, in particular, is terrific as the volatile Nina, clearly relishing the opportunity to exhibit such volatile unpredictability, as well as some belated depth. But Sweeney is also good at mixing up her own performance, given an arc that takes her from innocent victim to unwitting seductress through to vengeful trauma survivor.

While Sklenar also plays the varying elements of his character well, nearly hoodwinking the audience before leaning into the midway transition that repositions his place in proceedings.

Indeed, much of the film’s pleasure lies in its ability to keep you guessing, while maintaining a constant sense of awkwardness and unease. Feig seems to be taking a perverse delight in the cruelty on display - but it’s a ploy that lends the film its distinct edge and sustained ability to grip.

And while it’s certainly a pulpy affair that feels like a guilty pleasure, the director still manages to insert some sly social commentary on toxic masculinity while subverting some of the more cliched elements of more traditional women in peril movies.

Here, his protagonists are victims of abuse - but yet surprisingly in control of their own destinies despite having to endure some pretty humiliating stuff along the way.

As serious as some of this sounds, however, The Housemaid still realises that its primary objective is to entertain - and it frequently does so in ridiculously OTT fashion.

Certificate: 15

Running time: 2hrs 13mins