‘The Housemaid' Trailer Drops as Early Reaction Teases “Titillating Sex Scenes" and “Bloody, Brutal Violence"

Lionsgate is distributing Paul Feig’s “The Housemaid,” a thriller starring Sydney Sweeney and Amanda Seyfried. The screenplay, written by Rebecca Sonnenshine, adapts Freida McFadden’s bestselling novel.”

The first trailer has arrived ahead of the film’s December 19, 2025 release. It plays as salacious and kitschy — not entirely unwatchable — and carries a distinct “A Simple Favor” vibe, unsurprising given Feig also directed that film.”

Sweeney will play Millie, a struggling young woman who is relieved to get a fresh start as a housemaid to Nina (Seyfried) and Andrew, an upscale, wealthy couple. She soon learns that the family’s secrets are far more dangerous than her own.

I recently spoke to someone who had seen an early cut of this film, and they mentioned how Sweeney’s performance was “one note.” Feig tries to spice things up with plenty of “titillating sex scenes,” which work less as narrative choices and more as a way of stripping the story of its Lifetime-movie sheen. Seyfried is the only real bright spot — she leans into a deliberately campy register.

The film gets graphic: topless shots, rear nudity, and by the finale, a turn into bloody, brutal violence. It tracks the book almost verbatim — the husband is painted as an abusive, manipulative figure, while Seyfried plays herself increasingly unhinged, strategically positioning Sweeney as the innocent. The goal: to drive him toward a divorce, which would finally free her character from the cycle of abuse.

The source material, which turned McFadden into one hot author, has been on the New York Times Bestseller List for 75 weeks and counting. It has sold more than 3.6M copies worldwide in English has been translated into 40 languages.

I don’t dislike Feig’s comedies — he’s the director of “Bridesmaids,” “The Heat,” “A Simple Favor,” and “Spy” — but it’s been almost a decade since he’s made a genuinely good film. His last three efforts, “Last Christmas,” “The School for Good and Evil,” “Jackpot,” and “Another Simple Favor” were all critically panned, and let’s not forget he was also behind the much-maligned 2016 “Ghostbusters” reboot.