'THE HOUSEMAID'......WELCOME BACK, SEXY PSYCHO THRILLER! WE'VE MISSED YOU.

 The Housemaid (2025)

     Oh joy unconfined!  We so missed those sex-drenched psychological thrillers that ruled the 1990's.....loaded with stunning women, outrageous twists, over-the-top melodramatics and sooner or later, a brutal death or two.....

     So with open arms we welcome this film version of the best selling thriller by the incredibly prolific Freida McFadden....(who pumps out these books faster than McDonald's hamburgers.)

     In a Clash-of-the-Titans worthy of Bette Davis and Joan Crawford, the movie pits 'It'-Girl-Of-The-Moment Sydney Sweeney against Amanda Seyfried in a take-no-prisoners one-upsmanship smackdown.

      Ever so soft spoken Syd plays an ex-con on parole who luckily snares a live-in nanny position with uppercrust Seyfried, her hunka-hunka hubby (Brandon Sklenar) and bratty daughter (Indiana Elle). 

       Seyfried at first seems like a typical clueless wealthy sweetie pie until she quickly goes Faye Dunaway-Mommie-Dearest all over the hapless Sweeney. Skenlar steps in as a calming peacekeeper during his wife's crazy episodes and before long, he's doing way more with Sweeney than just calming her down......(which usually involves carrying her upstairs with her legs wrapped around him.....)

         And as we avid lovers of domestic psycho thrillers well know, absolutely no one is who or what they seem to be......heh, heh, heh, heh.....

          That's why at this point, we'll just have to shut up about everything else that happens in this movie, lest we spoil the whole fun of seeing it in the first place. 

           But in the interest of honesty here, we have to admit we didn't totally love all of it. Director Paul Feig and screenwriter Rebecca Sonnenshine are firing on all cylinders until they come the to story's third act.....the part where everyone's cards (and kinks) are on the table. 

           After the gung ho crowd pleasing first two thirds, the film slows down to revel and wallow in its perverse plot twists, and the whole things starts to resemble a sluggish horror movie. 

           But we can't stay mad at 'The Housemaid' for too long, having fully enjoyed the Sweeney-Seyfried show when it's going at full blast.....and even, to some extent, taking some guilty pleasure out of that creepy, loony stuff at the end until it wears out its welcome. 

           Nothing important or serious here, but simply a damn fun time at the cinema......and a refreshing change of pace coming in the midst of heavy hitters drooling for Academy Awards and franchise bloats like the 'Avatar' whatever. 

            And how we cheered and let out a 'YES!' when we heard the news Sweeney will return for a sequel, 'The Housemaid's Secret'.  Keep 'em comin', Syd.

            4 stars (****).