Overview
A family's life spirals into chaos when a housemaid's dark obsession threatens their stability.
Ember's analysis
- Pacing
- Brisk
- Intensity
- Strong
- Complexity
- Layered
- Violence
- Moderate
- oppressive
- paranoid
- visceral
- classic cinema night
- arthouse horror night
What critics said
Critics broadly regard Kim Ki-young’s audacious domestic melodrama as a landmark of Korean cinema, praising its unsettling style, psychological intensity, and incisive treatment of class and sexual morality.
What sets it apart
May contain story progression spoilers
The Kim household's newly built home concentrates the housemaid's manipulation, marital conflict, and mounting dread.
The housemaid's subordinate position intersects with Mr. Kim's authority, sexual access, and the family's precarious respectability.
Poison and household routines transform familiar domestic spaces into sources of menace.
The black-and-white photography and confined household interiors intensify the family's entrapment.
Films like The Housemaid, and why
Repulsion
domestic psychological horror, sexual transgression, and claustrophobic household paranoia
Parasite
class conflict, corrosive desire, and a home invaded by destabilizing outsiders
The Servant
stylized domestic melodrama centered on infidelity, obsession, and moral collapse
Movie Details
- Director
- Kim Ki-young
- Release Date
- 1960-11-03
- Runtime
- 112 min
- Rating
- 7.1 / 10 (201)
Cast
- Lee Eun-shim
- Kim Jin-kyu
- Ju Jeung-nyeo
- Um Aing-ran
- Go Seon-ae
- Gang Seok-je
- Wang Suk-rang
- Ra Jeong-ok
- Ahn Sung-ki
- Lee Yoo-ri
Where to watch in United States
- Rent
- Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Fandango At Home
- Buy
- Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Fandango At Home
Streaming options come from TMDB and change over time.
Common questions
- What is The Housemaid about?
- A respectable Korean family’s new home becomes a claustrophobic battleground when an unstable housemaid turns an affair into a campaign of coercion and revenge.
- What is The Housemaid like to watch?
- Ember's analysis rates the pacing of The Housemaid as brisk, its intensity as strong and its storytelling as layered.
- Is The Housemaid violent?
- Somewhat. Ember rates the violence in The Housemaid as moderate.
- What did critics think of The Housemaid?
- Critics broadly regard Kim Ki-young’s audacious domestic melodrama as a landmark of Korean cinema, praising its unsettling style, psychological intensity, and incisive treatment of class and sexual morality.
- Which films are like The Housemaid?
- Films with a similar feel include Repulsion, Parasite, and The Servant.
- How long is The Housemaid?
- The Housemaid runs 112 minutes.
- Where can I watch The Housemaid?
- In United States, The Housemaid is available to rent or buy from Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Fandango At Home.
