Don't believe a bad word you read about 'The Housemaid'. It's a damn good time.

I'm calling it. One of the best movies of the year has just squeezed in a few days before 2026 begins.

Don't believe the bad reviews. The Housemaid is something special. This movie needs to be seen to be believed.

The Housemaid is a truly bonkers psychological thriller that brings one of the decade's biggest literary sensations to the big screen.

The movie is based on the 2022 novel by Freida McFadden, which became a publishing phenomenon and spawned two sequels.

The book was a massive success, spending over 48 weeks on The New York Times bestseller list and becoming a viral BookTok staple. With over 15 million copies sold worldwide, the novel being translated for the silver screen was a no-brainer.

Directed by A Simple Favor's Paul Feig — a man more than equipped to capture a suburban Gothic tone — the film is adapted by screenwriter Rebecca Sonnenshine.

Watch the trailer. Post continues after video.

The story follows Millie Calloway (played by Sydney Sweeney), a young woman fresh out of prison, desperately seeking a new start. She lands a housemaid position with the wealthy Winchester family in their idyllic Long Island mansion.

However, this dream job quickly sours as Millie has to navigate the erratic and unhinged behaviour of her employer, Nina Winchester (Amanda Seyfried).

As Millie grows closer to Nina's seemingly perfect husband, Andrew (Brandon Sklenar), she realises that dangerous secrets are lurking inside the walls of this family home.

The cast is rounded out by the hunky 365 Days star Michele Morrone as the mysterious groundskeeper Enzo and iconic Sharp Objects actress Elizabeth Perkins as Andrew's overbearing mother.

Perkins is perfectly cast as this tight-lipped repressive matriarch of the family, and she can't help but steal every scene she's in.

But of course, the weight of this film sits firmly on the shoulders of Sydney Sweeney as Millie. And look, do I think she's great in this? Not really. But is she great for this movie? Yes.

Image: Lionsgate.

Sweeney's disaffected style of acting is a perfect match for Millie. The actress arguably has two modes she perfected in Euphoria: sultry and sedated, along with manic and deranged. Thankfully, these two settings were all that was largely needed for this character.

And her bizarre cognitive dissonance, making moves on a married man in The Housemaid, felt straight out of the Cassie handbook.

Despite Millie and Michele Morrone's Enzo's love story being at the forefront of the book, don't expect this to play out in the film. The actor is strong in his scenes, but he doesn't have a whole lot of material to work with in the movie. But don't worry, there's so much going on — you won't miss their side plot one bit.

The biggest surprise was Brandon Sklenar. I was confused when he was cast, having only seen him as a tepid love interest in It Ends With Us, but oh boy, he is damn good. He fits the part perfectly, balancing Andrew's smouldering charisma with his more sinister side. In some of his most dramatic moments, his acting is nothing short of remarkable.

The sex scenes between Sklenar and Sweeney are also much steamier than I expected, and it all worked.

But ultimately, the star of this movie is Amanda Seyfried. Oh my God. She's phenomenal.

Image: Lionsgate.

She manages to flip behind a saccharine sweet persona to being delightfully unhinged within mere seconds, and all the while — you are still rooting for her because she's so damn mesmerising.

It's one of the best performances I've seen in a thriller since Rosamund Pike's Gone Girl. She's that good.

To be clear, this movie is much more campy than other thrillers like Gone Girl or Dark Places. It's closer in tone to the over-the-top thrillers that dominated the '90s and early '00s.

For this reason, I can see a lot of people hating this movie — and that's the beauty of it. This movie is truly unhinged and I loved every second of it.

Like Feig's other masterwork, A Simple Favor, the script is filled with cutting social commentary and outlandish dialogue — most of it works, but there were some unintentional laughs from the audience when a line didn't quite land.

But this is much darker than any Blake Lively flick, so be prepared for a major pivot towards the end of the film, with several scenes featuring some shocking body horror. It's painful to watch.

Image: Lionsgate.

As a fan of horror movies, this was a welcome tone shift, but if you think you're going into a fluffy suburban drama — you might not be able to get through some of the grimmer scenes.

As mentioned, Morrone seemed a tad out of place in this film. I'd hazard a guess that potentially some of his scenes were left on the cutting room floor, as it doesn't make a lot of sense to cast such a bankable star for him to then only deliver a handful of lines (well, when he's not suddenly appearing in random doorways).

But these criticisms are minor. I truly had the best time at the cinema; perhaps the most joy I've gotten from a movie all year.

Despite running for over two hours, it never felt tedious and in all honesty, I never wanted it to end. Give me a sequel! A series! A podcast! A pantomime! A live tour! I'd take anything.

If The Housemaid has a million fans, I am one of them. If The Housemaid has ten fans, I am one of them.

If The Housemaid has only one fan, I am that fan.

Feature image: Lionsgate.