The Housemaid (2025): A Thriller That Could Use a Little Dusting

I am a big fan of Frieda McFadden's books. They make the perfect beach read or palate cleanser because they are easy to understand and full of surprises you never expect. Her stories often feature relatable characters and engaging plots that keep readers hooked from start to finish.

My favorite, and her most popular book, is The Housemaid, released in 2022. It was destined to become a movie, and now, in 2025, there is a 131-minute film based on the novel starring Amanda Seyfried and Sydney Sweeney.

I went into the theater with high hopes for this movie. There were already a few issues with it in my mind, including casting Sydney Sweeney as the main character, Millie, and having Paul Feig direct, best known recently for A Simple Favor (2018) and Another Simple Favor (2025), two movies I did not care for very much.

But hey, I am more than willing to give something a chance, especially a motion picture adaptation of one of my favorite books.

The movie follows Millie (Sweeney), who has a troubled past and struggles to hold down a job. She becomes a live-in housemaid for the Winchesters, a wealthy family composed of Nina (Amanda Seyfried), Andrew (Brandon Sklenar), and their daughter, Cecelia (Indiana Elle).

Soon after Millie gets hired, Nina suddenly starts acting erratically, accusing her of several things, including throwing away essential papers. She says one thing and then expects the opposite. Millie shortly finds out Nina has been committed to a mental hospital before, and suspects she's having another episode.

Meanwhile, Millie worries about Andrew's safety. They grow closer, and their relationship shifts from professional to something more (don’t bring the little ones to this flick, folks!).

The rest needs to be uncovered on your own, since this is Frieda McFadden — the twists are big, juicy, and dare I say bloody!

Since I already knew the twist, I felt impatient for its reveal, which took a while. This makes me cautious about Frieda fans enjoying the movie while waiting for the moment when things truly begin to escalate, as the slow build-up could test their patience and anticipation.

This movie isn’t short at 131 minutes, and by the time the big twist happened, I was mentally exhausted and felt the impact was rushed.

The style and appearance of the frames are very similar to A Simple Favor. I’m guessing they used the same type of cameras to produce the bright, sharp images. The soundtrack was similar, featuring plenty of overly sweet pop songs that interrupt any buildup of tension.

Truly, the tonal shifts throughout the film gave me whiplash. Possibly my biggest gripe before the twist was how the tone swung from funny, sexy, or lighthearted to dark and ominous, like a ping-pong ball bouncing rapidly between extremes.

By the time the climax hits, the tension is almost nonexistent, leaving a sense of disjointed storytelling.

Amanda Seyfried is undoubtedly the star of this movie. As I heard a young lady leaving the theater say, “Amanda ate!”. And that she did. She is the main one who saves this film. She always shines in every role, but she really nails playing an unhinged Nina. Her ability to shift her mood so effortlessly is genuinely extraordinary. An absolute powerhouse who I will always enjoy seeing.

Oh, Sydney Sweeney. Being paired with someone as talented as Seyfried was a disservice to you. I apologize to Sweeney fans out there; she doesn't do it for me. Her acting feels forced, and as Millie, she doesn't convincingly portray a former criminal. The way they made her overly sexy for this role is excessive.

Even next to Sklenar, who also gave an excellent performance, Sweeney felt like the odd one out. There were moments when the acting was so strange and forced that the movie laughed out loud at parts that weren’t meant to be funny.

I'll give this movie points for its effective use of body horror, which creates visceral, unsettling scenes that linger in my head long after the credits roll. Some moments made me cover my eyes and squirm in my seat. If blood makes you queasy, you need to be mentally prepared because there is a good amount of it, often presented in graphic, disturbing detail that intensifies the experience that horror fans will appreciate.

I enjoyed The Housemaid much more than Feig’s other projects. But I couldn’t help but wonder: what is it with him and (alleged) problematic leads? Blake Lively and Sweeney are examples. I won’t go into Lively, but Sweeney had the American Eagle denim ad that went viral and became controversial. I think that gave people a bad impression of her after that.

But honestly, I can finally say with confidence that I don’t think she's a good actor. I will still watch her future projects in hopes she improves, but she’s not my cup of tea, and that’s okay.

Overall, I give The Housemaid three out of five stars. This should have been a straight-to-streaming movie because I would have had a different response if I'd been able to watch it on my couch. Don’t get me wrong, I love going to the cinema, but only when I’m seeing a work that demands to be seen on the big screen.

And this is not that movie.

But if you loved movies like A Simple Favor, Another Simple Favor, or even It Ends With Us, you'll enjoy this one. I didn’t like any of those movies, so it’s no surprise that I’m pretty critical of a story I love so much, like The Housemaid.

Will they adapt The Housemaid’s Secret for the big screen? Only time will tell once the box office numbers are in, but I believe it's quite possible given the book's popularity and potential audience interest. I wasn’t a massive fan of the sequels to the first book, so I could take them or leave them, as they didn’t quite capture the same intrigue for me.

Ultimately, Freida fans are excited to see how her stories could be brought to life on screen, and I’m happy to see her succeed.

You can watch The Housemaid only in theaters starting December 19th.