Hmm, how could Millie (Sydney Sweeney), the gorgeously mousy new housemaid in the palatial home of Nina Winchester (Amanda Seyfried), possibly have guessed that this gig wasn’t going to work out well? Could it have been the house, with its blood-red sofa, snake wallpaper in the bathroom and groundskeeper who seems to spend his days standing around ominously, like it’s part of his job description? The fact that she’s been issued a cramped attic bedroom, with a tiny window that won’t open and a door that only locks on the outside? Nina’s habit of freaking out at the drop of a hat? Nina’s extremely handsome husband, Andrew (Brandon Sklenar), who within mere seconds of Millie’s arrival is getting all flirty over reruns of “Family Feud”? The way that everyone in the family seems to dress entirely in shades of white and beige, like they’re members of an extremely tasteful cult? Let’s just say that Millie, who in the manner of all B-movie heroines has her own secrets, has her reasons to stick around.

“The Housemaid,” directed by Paul Feig (“A Simple Favor,” “Spy”) from the bestselling novel by Freida McFadden, is a thoroughly enjoyable bit of horror-movie cheese: a creepy romantic triangle involving three ridiculously good-looking people, one very weird kid and that groundskeeper whose deal I never could quite figure out (but who is also, you will be glad to know, very good-looking). Everyone has a great deal of backstory, so much so that you wonder how they walk around without tripping over it; nobody is quite what they seem, which is what one expects from this type of movie. Feig, who’s made a specialty of stories featuring unlikely female duos, knows exactly what he’s doing here in the classy-B-movie genre, and “The Housemaid” ticks along like oatmeal-toned clockwork — a little scary, a little silly and very popcorn-appropriate.

Seyfried, who should do comedy more often, is the standout here: speaking in a funny rich-lady singsong, widening her ethereal blue eyes like they’re a CGI effect — she looks like a lunatic angel — and deploying her dazzling smile like a weapon pointed in Millie’s direction. (She’s clearly having a ball; listen to the purry spin Seyfried puts on the line, “Andrew’s been dying to see it.”) Sweeney, whose character doesn’t get as many of the good lines, plays Millie with a droopy, intentional flatness and sudden flashes of mean-girl hauteur. They’re a pretty fair match; you might find yourself rooting for both of them.

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‘THE HOUSEMAID’

3 stars (out of 4)

MPA rating: R (for strong/bloody violent content, sexual assault, sexual content, nudity and language)

Running time: 2:11

How to watch: In theaters Dec. 19

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