Rent The Housemaid (2025)

Help Unwanted - The Housemaid review by griggs

Pure pulp, lovingly packaged: wealthy household, simmering secrets, someone probably getting stabbed with something expensive. The Housemaid knows exactly what it is — a glossy, campy throwback to the kind of erotic thrillers that clogged up 90s cinema — and mostly commits to the bit.

Amanda Seyfried is the reason it works at all. She does the unhinged-housewife turn with real precision: every smile slightly too wide, every breakdown perfectly calibrated. That only makes Sydney Sweeney feel flatter by comparison — blank reaction shots, a character who barely stirs until the final act.

Still, the schlocky momentum carries it further than it deserves. Not subtle, not clever, but just pulpy enough to keep your eyes on the screen. Most of the time, anyway.

A well-executed thriller brimming with erotic tension - The Housemaid review by Philip in Paradiso

The film is centred on 3 key characters. The 1st one is Millie Calloway (a pulpous Sydney Sweeney): recently paroled for a crime she committed, she must find and keep lawful employment. She has been sleeping in her car since leaving jail, it would appear. The 2nd key character is Nina Winchester (a beautiful Amanda Seyfried), who hires Millie as a live-in housemaid (hence the title of the film). We soon realise that Nina is a very troubled woman, who may have serious mental-health issues. The 3rd key character is her husband, Andrew Winchester (a beefy and handsome Brandon Sklenar). He comes from a very wealthy family and runs the family business. The couple have a young daughter, Cece. They live in a very large house on Long Island, on the East Coast of the USA, in a posh neighbourhood. When she moves in, Millie is given a comfortable attic bedroom at the top of the house. We learn that Nina is pregnant, hence she feels she will soon need help around the house. The film develops from this point onwards.

This is a successful, atmospheric thriller, filled with erotic tension - one man and 2 attractive women: what could possibly go wrong? The actors' performance is good, more particularly that of Amanda Seyfried. The storyline is never implausible and the suspense is palpable. This is a very good film, in my view. It could have been a masterpiece, in fact. But the movie has a major flaw, which is a structural weakness. At one point, various events relating to the past of the key characters are revealed, which have a bearing on the story. In my opinion, this comes at the wrong time in the story (a bit too early) and is probably more detailed than necessary. As a result, it somewhat breaks and weakens the momentum of the story. Still, well worth watching.

Superior thriller - The Housemaid review by Alphaville

A young woman on parole gets a job as housemaid to a psychotic wife and her hulky husband. Obviously it’s not going to go well. But if you think you’ve seen it all before, just hang on in there. This is unexpectedly riveting stuff, especially if you don’t know the book on which it’s based. The three leads are great, the script keeps you on edge and the direction is flawless.