When most people think of horror movies, they picture rainy nights, haunted mansions, and terror at every turn. However, The Housemaid, directed by Paul Feig, produced by Lionsgate, and released in 2025, subverts all of these expectations. The dark houses are traded for shiny upstate mansions, and the rainy days are replaced with sunshine and summer vibes. 

Paul Feig deviates from his typical comedic style, which was previously displayed in Ghostbusters and A Simple Favor, stepping into something entirely different. The plot also made this movie intriguing yet terrifying. In the film’s exposition, the setting seems idyllic, nothing out of place. A young woman named Millie Callaway, played by Sydney Sweeney, is hired as a live-in housekeeper for a grand, beautiful house by an excessively kind and wealthy family. It appears to be the opposite of a horror film, but as it progresses the image of the picturesque scenery and perfect family is slowly flipped on its head. 

The initial sweet portrayal of Nina (Amanda Seyfried), the wife, is abandoned when she has a meltdown after misplacing a speech she had written for one of her PTA meetings. She tears apart the kitchen, screaming and crying in a flurry of rage, quickly becoming a danger to Millie, quickly marking a tone shift in the movie. Nina is beyond consolation until her husband, Andrew, comes in and relieves all tension, the only one able to properly handle his wife’s eccentric nature. Millie’s bond with Andrew, her knight in shining armor, grows significantly as he swoops in and saves her at the last second time and time again from Nina. After these initial tensions, the film divulges, and we begin to realize this knight in shining armor may not be all he seems. The rest of the movie explored the hidden horrors of the house and the horrible actions Nina and Andrew harbor in secret. 

This psychological thriller keeps its audience on the edge of their seat for the duration of the movie. The writers cleverly set the audience’s expectation for who the true villain is, allowing them to hide key details in plain sight, likely to go unnoticed or unexplainable until a shocking revelation in the last scenes illustrates an entirely different narrative. The tone of the movie switched up so many times, keeping the watcher on the edge of their seat. Is it a too-perfect summer movie? A dark psychological affair that has you hiding beneath the blankets? It’s almost impossible to predict the next move in the best way possible. The scenery and vibe changes made the horror of the movie all the more amplified. All that is made certain in the first segment of the film is wholly reversed. Characters you trusted suddenly become the most suspicious of all, and those who you hated become the most beloved, the ones you really root for. 

The Housemaid was originally a book by Frieda McFadden who is a physician specializing in brain injuries by day and a thriller author by night. The Housemaid was released in 2022, and became her bestselling book, spending over 60 weeks on  top of the New York Times bestsellers list. The sequel, The Housemaid’s Secret, was released in 2023, and achieved similar fame, earning a Goodreads Choice Award for Best Thriller in 2023. The book is much more focused on the psychological terror of a situation such as Nina’s, while the movie’s lasting impression centers on physical violence. Certain aspects of this physical violence take the watcher out of the experience due to how unrealistic and mentally deranged the characters are portrayed in the conclusion. A better gradual development of Millie’s character, or more emphasis on her psychological distress would have made the movie mind-boggling and believable at the same time. 

 The book centers on Millie’s shift from a seemingly benign woman to a morally ambiguous one. Her vengeful nature is finally revealed by the end of the novel, but the violence she commits is not as dwelled upon as it is in the movie. A psychological terror dominates the film, making the watcher jump at the mere sight of certain characters. However, as the film progresses the method in which fear is induced morphs from psychological to purely gut-wrenching physical violence, which is what is remembered most looking back. In the book, Millie is much more of a static character, always thinking decisions through and not jumping into action right away. However, in the film, Millie is more rash. She jumps into action without worrying about the consequences, then begs for a second chance when she is fired from her job. This was one of the more annoying aspects of her character. She always makes mistakes and while they are not always valid, she is always begging for more chances, and at a certain point, the viewer can’t help but think she should just quit. However, Millie’s desperation turns out to be a key detail and a major piece of the plot. 

The Housemaid certainly left a lasting impression from the numerous plot twists, psychological drama, and violence, although the violence did not necessarily add to the film. Overall, though, these factors, plus the intriguingly layered characters who subvert expectations throughout the film, make it worth a watch.