It was on October 2024 when “The Housemaid” was announced to have a movie adaptation and as I read the book on that same month along with casting news that Sydney Sweeney and Amanda Seyfried will be the leads, I knew I had a good feeling about this! This trilogy by Freida McFadden is about an ex-prisoner whom applied as a housemaid to a wealthy family in order to start a new life. As she continued to serve and live in the attic, the family’s secrets began to unwrap leading to a thrilling twist of the story. The film premiered on December in USA and UK while January for the Philippines where I first watched it and up to present time, it has been a global box office hit! I even watched it again when I returned in London since it deserves to be watched twice…or can be more than that! 'cause why not?! 😎
Here are my 5 good reasons why you have to watch this film whether you love thriller, the book, the cast or anything in between 😉
NB: All thoughts are of my own
THE STAR-STUDDED CAST
Personally, I’ve been fully seated to this from the time I heard that Sydney Sweeney will be part of it. And besides that, I got more hooked that she’ll be working with Amanda Seyfried so that’s got to be a potential hit, right?! Their acting throughout the film synced very well from those narrative scenes up to their bickering parts. I loved how Sydney portrayed Millie as a sexy, attractive yet tough housemaid like this could be my favorite character of hers so far. While, Amanda being Nina Winchester is superb as expected and even Brandon Sklenar as Andrew Winchester. Hence, the whole cast truly brought the book’s characters to life.♡
BECAUSE YOU’VE READ AND LOVED THE BOOK
The whole book is a page-turner which led me to read the succeeding sequels. Its prologue always give a sense of curiosity on how the story will unfold. I like how McFadden wrote her character’s POVs which involves a list of why the plot twist happened. Additionally, it’s awesome that most highlighted scenes from the book were brought on screen.
OR YOU DIDN’T READ THE BOOK BUT YOU LIKE PSYCHOLOGICAL THRILLERS
There is certainly a difference of anticipation between the book readers and those who hasn’t. In my opinion, there were some parts that I found more brutal in the book than how it was depicted on the film.
[spoiler: Lets talk about the ending for example; In the book, Andrew needed to take 3 teeth using the pliers and he died for passing out on the attic since Millie left him without water for 3 days. Whereas on the film, he was just asked to take one tooth and he died by being pushed from the staircase]
Nevertheless, this slight tweak of the story worked leaving non-readers of the book find genuine interest on the movie.
On a latest note, PEOPLE revealed an exclusive deleted scene of Enzo and Millie which took another twisted turn. There was no such scene in the book but having seen this flicks a light of their relationship for the next book. ☺️
THE PURE GENIUS DIRECTOR
Paul Feig can be one of the most amusing and interactive director that I’ve seen so far. He gives a slice of jolly entertainment during the promotional interviews and he even joined the team to play on Celebrity Family Feud! Like I said, there were some changes in the film from the book but it still worked fine—more like adding spice to the fire I suppose! Imagine how someone so sexy became a housemaid of a rich family’s house?! I’m glad that he’ll be directing the next sequel.♡
THE HYPE ALL OVER SOCIAL MEDIA
Among all of Sydney’s projects in 2025, it’s “The Housemaid” that has the most visibility. The promotional interviews, whether it’s just her with Amanda or with Brandon and Michele, were very entertaining. Let alone, each from the main cast have a massive fanbase! There were several memes and videos commonly from Tik Tok that circulated when the film was released especially the intimate scenes.
Then of course, there were much-awaited red carpet premieres held in Los Angeles and New York. How I wished there was a European premiere in London but instead, there was an event for PR and book critics only. It was somehow sad that there was no fan access then. On the other hand, there were contests and raffles held for promoting the film—like literally, “12 Days of Christmas from The Housemaid”. I joined some of the days when the prize is interesting but I had no luck in it.🙂↕️
Honestly, it got difficult by the day when I was trying to get away from the spoilers until I got to watch it in the Philippines on 8th January. Even if I’ve read the book, I was still surprised and in awe on how it was delivered on screen. I love it. 🥹♡ Yet, it was even more fun when I watched it again in London when it was still packed on its 5th week and the crowd was very lively! Nevertheless, I assumed that most of them came to rewatch as well because they seem to know when to make noise.
And you know that it’s an incredible film when there are people applauding during the credit roll. Well, they deserved it and I’m so glad that they’re down to make the next sequel!✨
In addition to that, “The Housemaid” is now available for online streaming at home and as of this writing, it hit #1 on Apple TV alongside reaching a global gross of $300M(and counting!) in theatre. I’m truly proud of this team especially for Sydney since she’s been through a lot on the previous year but she nailed her best yet at the end.♡
So go watch this film if you haven’t! It is a privilege to do so 😉
‘til then!
