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The Housemaid

Play trailer Poster for The Housemaid 1960 1h 30m Horror Play Trailer Watchlist
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100% Tomatometer 5 Reviews 77% Popcornmeter 250+ Ratings
Piano composer Dong-sik (Eun-shim Lee) and his pregnant wife (Jeung-nyeo Ju) need extra help around the house, so they hire a housemaid (Kim Jin-kyu), whose precociousness soon gives way to troubling behavior. Tensions between her and Dong-sik lead to an affair, and while the pregnancy ends in a miscarriage, it also results in the maid becoming obsessed with killing the entire family, starting with their older son. Soon their comfortable home becomes a physical and psychological battleground.

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The Housemaid

Critics Reviews

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Dustin Chang Floating World It's not lust she's after. She just wants what others have, because that's what a consumerist capitalist is supposed to do. Aug 27, 2023 Full Review Michael J. Casey Boulder Weekly Claustrophobic and relentless, 'The Housemaid' is the perfect intersection of noir and horror, and one of South Korea's greatest films. Rated: 4/5 Aug 6, 2020 Full Review Sean Axmaker Seanax.com ... a wildly melodramatic story of middle class ambition set almost entirely in a two-story home that becomes something of a prison as the web of desire and anxiety and loathing and social standing closes in on them. Jan 18, 2017 Full Review Dennis Schwartz Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews The strange film has reached cult classic status, as it lays out a nightmarish scenario over its soap opera story. Rated: B Jul 18, 2014 Full Review Jeffrey M. Anderson Combustible Celluloid [This] story is perfectly captured in a poetic, demonic way by the camera. Jan 28, 2011 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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Lon W OKAY I HAD NEVER HEARD OF THIS FILM. THE ' CITIZEN KANE OF SOUTH KOREA '. BUT PHILLY HAD ONE SHOWING AND I THOUGHT IT'D BE COOL. LOVE THE ERA AND YEAR I WAS BORN 1960. PLUS BLACK AND WHITE......SO HERE I AM IN A PRETTY PACKED THEATER AND I AM LAUGHING OUT LOUD LIKE A LITTLE GIRL AT A HANNAH MONTANA CONCERT!! NOBODY ELSE WAS LAUGHING AND I THOUGHT I MIGHT GET BEATEN....BUT THE END!!!!! WOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHH!!! NO SPOILER. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 04/26/25 Full Review Vitor O An incredibly tense South Korean thriller that easily holds up to this day. Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 03/19/25 Full Review Madam D Very odd, intense film made during a time in South Korea that was very conservative. By modern standards the plot is overly dramatic, but with cultural & financial overtones that made sense at the time. Ending turns it into a moral play. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 03/15/25 Full Review Andy F An excellent groundbreaking film. This is what filmmaking is all about. Disturbing yet charming and totally unique. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 09/22/24 Full Review JJJJJJ J Moderately entertaining film that says at least something about the society that birthed it. The basic plot of this film is somewhat weird in which you have a women using the fact that she is a mans mistress to control him, going against most western stereotypes in which the man is always the controller. It is definitely different and I do not know how much I agree with it. It also seems to paint the adult women in a bad light but seems to have less criticism for the male it is just weird. Definitely not modern feminist approved. I don't know. I don't think its a bad movie. It creates a compelling plot, that some might not like but makes us ask important questions. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 07/05/23 Full Review william d South Korean cinema was still nascent in 1960, and I'm sure the issues it dealt with were controversial back in the day. Even making allowances for those factors, however, I just don't think this movie was done very well. The story was kind of dumb, the soundtrack is overly dramatic, and it looks like they spent about five bucks making this thing. The film did remind me of a rule I learned a long time ago though: never screw the maid. At best she'll stop cleaning the house well. At worst she'll get murderous. Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review Read all reviews
The Housemaid

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Cast & Crew

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Kim Ki-young

Director

Kim Jin-kyu

Kim Dongsik

Eun-shim Lee

Maid

Jeung-nyeo Ju

Dongsik's Wife

Ahn Sung-ki

Dongsik's Son

Eom Aeng-ran

Jo Kyunghee

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The Housemaid

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Movie Info

Synopsis Piano composer Dong-sik (Eun-shim Lee) and his pregnant wife (Jeung-nyeo Ju) need extra help around the house, so they hire a housemaid (Kim Jin-kyu), whose precociousness soon gives way to troubling behavior. Tensions between her and Dong-sik lead to an affair, and while the pregnancy ends in a miscarriage, it also results in the maid becoming obsessed with killing the entire family, starting with their older son. Soon their comfortable home becomes a physical and psychological battleground.
Director
Kim Ki-young
Screenwriter
Kim Ki-young
Production Co
Hanguk Munye Yeonghwa, Kim Ki-Young Production
Genre
Horror
Original Language
Korean
Release Date (Streaming)
Nov 17, 2016
Box Office (Gross USA)
$148.5K
Runtime
1h 30m
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