---
title: "Nightbitch"
year: 2024
kind: "film"
canonical: "https://film.one/film/nightbitch"
fi1m_id: "nightbitch"
imdb_id: "tt12810074"
tmdb_id: 728949
wikidata_id: "Q115475553"
fi1m_score: 56
critics_score: 59
critics_reviews: 26
published: "2026-09-09"
updated: "2026-09-18T08:37:56.735160+00:00"
region: "US"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Nightbitch (2024)

Directed by Marielle Heller · 1h 38m · MPA R · Comedy, Horror

## Identity

Nightbitch

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/film/nightbitch
- **Type:** Film
- **Fi1m ID:** nightbitch
- **IMDb ID:** tt12810074
- **TMDB ID:** 728949
- **Wikidata ID:** Q115475553
- **Same entity:** https://www.imdb.com/title/tt12810074/, https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/728949, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q115475553

**Fi1m score: 56** · Critics 59 from 26 reviews

*In a sentence:* Amy Adams tears into raw meat with her teeth and the film still wants to talk about her feelings

> Marielle Heller’s adaptation of Rachel Yoder’s novel has Amy Adams as a mother who may be turning into a dog. Adams is fearless and frequently funny; the film around her keeps announcing a transformation it then declines to go through with.

## Synopsis

Mother (Amy Adams) gave up her work as an artist to stay at home with her small son (Arleigh and Emmett Snowden). Husband (Scoot McNairy) leaves for work on Monday and returns on Friday, and the days between are all the same. Then she notices a patch of fur at the base of her spine. Her teeth seem sharper. The dogs of the neighbourhood have started gathering on the lawn after dark. At the library singalong she meets other mothers (Zoë Chao, Mary Holland, Archana Rajan) and a librarian, Norma (Jessica Harper), who hands her a book about women who turn into animals. Marielle Heller directs from Rachel Yoder’s novel.

## Review

Marielle Heller has adapted Rachel Yoder’s novel about a woman who used to make art and now makes dinner. Amy Adams plays her, and the credits call her only Mother. She lives in a suburb with her small son (Arleigh and Emmett Snowden share the part) while Husband (Scoot McNairy) travels for work all week and comes home at the weekend to be tired. Then she finds a patch of fur at the base of her spine, her teeth feel sharper, and the neighbourhood dogs start gathering on the lawn at night. *Nightbitch* is a comedy and a horror film about a woman becoming an animal, and it is much better at the woman than the animal. Adams is superb. The film is not, quite.

The first half hour is the sharpest thing Heller has written. Anne McCabe cuts between what Mother says and what she means: a bright “I love it” to an old colleague in the supermarket, then the same moment again with a two-minute account of what the last two years have done to her, then “I love it” once more. The days are shown as one day, eggs, playground, library, bath, the same book, the same song, cut short and tight so the routine wears a groove. We laughed a great deal in this stretch. By the fourth bath we had stopped, and we think that was intended.

Adams does the heavy work with her face and her posture. She lets her shoulders round, her hair go unwashed and her voice flatten into the tone of a woman who has not finished a sentence since the birth. When the dog comes through she plays it as relief: a sniff at a stranger, a snarl at a man who takes the last parking space, plain pleasure the first time she runs on all fours across wet grass. There is no vanity in it, and when she digs in the garden by moonlight with her bare hands we believed every second.

The horror does not come. There is fur, a tail, something unpleasant found in the garden one morning, but Heller cuts away from the body at the moment a horror film would move in. Brandon Trost shoots the house in flat, warm daylight, oatmeal walls and a kitchen strewn with plastic, and the nights in a soft streetlamp orange, so the dog is never once frightening. Karen Murphy dresses the spare room as the studio Mother no longer uses, canvases stacked against the wall, and that room says more about what she has lost than any of the voiceover. There is a great deal of voiceover. Adams reads us paragraphs about the animal self and the ancient and the sacred, each repeating what the scene has already shown, at greater length and in worse prose.

Jessica Harper’s Norma, a librarian who presses a book of mythical women into Mother’s hands, is warm and faintly sinister and is given almost nothing to do. Zoë Chao, Mary Holland and Archana Rajan play the mothers from the library group, first mocked, then embraced, in a change of heart the film wants more than it earns. McNairy plays Husband as a man who means well, which is truer than a villain would be and lets the film off. Nate Heller writes the score and plays the man leading the singalong at the library. His music is light and plucked and never suggests anything is wrong, which we took to be a decision.

Heller’s *Can You Ever Forgive Me?* (2018) and *A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood* (2019) were about difficult people handled with patience, and patience is her gift. It is the wrong gift here. Yoder’s premise asks for teeth, and around the hour mark the film steps back from the transformation and into a marriage drama, with arguments about the dishes that could have been had without any fur at all. The second half takes a turn we will not describe. We will say that it settles in about ten minutes what the first hour had made feel impossible to settle, and that we were angrier about it than the film could have meant us to be.

See it for Adams, who is doing something braver than the film around her. At 98 minutes it does not overstay, and it plays better at home, where the voiceover feels less like a lecture. Motherhood is a bitch, runs the tagline. The film agrees, then apologises.

*Fi1m score 56, published 9 September 2026.*

## What the critics say

The reviews split almost down the middle, and the spread is wide. Nearly everyone agrees on Amy Adams: critics call her performance committed, unvain and wild, and several say she is the reason to watch even when the film around her disappoints. Marielle Heller’s direction draws praise for warmth and for making the premise of a mother turning into a dog feel believable, with Deadline going furthest in calling it a wise, sweet tribute to mothers. The reservations cluster on nerve. Most critics say the film pulls its punches, keeping the body horror of the novel at arm’s length and settling into a conventional domestic drama; Polygon and Slant both want it messier and stranger. Others find the metaphor on the nose and the narration too plain in spelling out its points. The Independent dissents hardest, calling it far too tame with pat conclusions, while The Guardian finds it unwilling to choose between comedy and horror.

## Straight answers

**Is Nightbitch worth watching?**

*Nightbitch* is worth watching for Amy Adams, who is braver and funnier than the film around her, and we scored it 56. The first half hour is sharp comedy about a mother whose days have worn into a groove; the second half retreats from its own premise into a marriage drama. It plays better at home, where the heavy voiceover feels less like a lecture.

**How long is Nightbitch, and what is it rated?**

*Nightbitch* runs 1h 38m and is rated R by the MPA in the US. It is a comedy and horror film.

**Where can I watch Nightbitch in the US?**

*Nightbitch* is streaming on Hulu and Disney+ in the US. Availability is checked daily; the links above go straight to each service.

**How violent or frightening is Nightbitch, and is it suitable for children?**

*Nightbitch* is a 15 in the UK and R-rated in the US, and it is not for children. The horror is mostly withheld: there is fur, a tail, raw meat eaten by hand, something unpleasant dug up in the garden, but Marielle Heller cuts away where a horror film would move in. Teenagers who can take a 15 will find it more uncomfortable than frightening, and the swearing and adult bleakness are the real reason for the certificate.

**How does Nightbitch compare to The Babadook?**

*Nightbitch* and [*The Babadook*](https://film.one/film/the-babadook) both follow an exhausted mother at the end of her rope, and *The Babadook* is the better film because it does not flinch. Jennifer Kent lets the resentment become frightening; Marielle Heller keeps her house warm and her dog never once scary. Choose *Nightbitch* for comedy and Amy Adams, *The Babadook* if you want to be scared.

**Is Nightbitch based on a true story or a book?**

*Nightbitch* is adapted from Rachel Yoder's novel of the same name and is not a true story. Marielle Heller keeps the premise of a stay-at-home mother who may be turning into a dog, though the film steps back from the transformation around the hour mark and leans on voiceover about the animal self. You do not need to have read the book to follow it.

**What should I watch after Nightbitch?**

After *Nightbitch*, try [*The Babadook*](https://film.one/film/the-babadook) (2014, Fi1m 86): Another mother at the end of her rope, in a film that does not flinch. Then [*Cat People*](https://film.one/film/cat-people) (1942, Fi1m 86): The original woman-becomes-animal picture, done entirely in shadow and suggestion.

### Reviews we read (32)

- **Empire** (80/100, inferred): The critic praises it as a funny, freaky and appropriately messy film that is part comedy, part body-horror and part feminist treatise. They single out Amy Adams' remarkable, deeply unselfconscious performance. [Read](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/nightbitch/)
- **Little White Lies**, Jourdain Searles (4/4/3): The review commends Amy Adams' committed and energetic performance as the mother grappling with lost identity. It singles out the film's insightful portrayal of the emotional and domestic burdens of motherhood as a rare and worthwhile exploration. [Read](https://lwlies.com/reviews/nightbitch)
- **Los Angeles Times**, Robert Abele (80/100, inferred): Abele calls the film a sincerely surreal domestic fable that offers liberation through its canine metaphor for exhausted motherhood. He singles out Amy Adams' ferocious, howling performance and Heller's empathetic direction that avoids easy traps. [Read](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/movies/story/2024-12-06/nightbitch-review-amy-adams-marielle-heller)
- **Radio Times**, James Mottram (4/5): The review calls it a clever, blackly comic twist on the werewolf tale that smartly examines midlife motherhood and sacrifice. It singles out Amy Adams' raw, unvain performance and the film's satisfying genre-bending approach. [Read](https://www.radiotimes.com/movie-guide/b-hffq5p/nightbitch/)
- **The Telegraph** (80/100, inferred): Heller makes the outlandish premise of a mother turning into a dog feel natural and believable. Adams gives a terrific, primeval performance that unleashes something wild within the domestic setting. [Read](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/films/0/nightbitch-review-amy-adams-marielle-heller/)
- **The New York Times**, Manohla Dargis (75/100, inferred): Dargis describes the film's sly conceit of a beleaguered mother transforming into a dog as a galvanizing rebirth exploring power, female identity, and maternity. She praises Amy Adams' clever, comic performance while noting the story's claustrophobic intimacy and some dubious ideas about domesticity. [Read](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/05/movies/nightbitch-review-amy-adams.html)
- **Financial Times**, Danny Leigh (3/5): The film offers a wry, pointed portrait of the grind of parenting through its feral premise, with hard-earned truths about unfulfilled motherhood. Daring elements in the setup ultimately sputter out without fully resolving the fantasy or reality question. [Read](https://www.ft.com/content/5b6c1ab5-cf50-4eb9-bb7b-8bd5fbb2c60c)
- **Time Out** (3/5): The critic finds the film a partially successful comedy-horror about a mother's identity loss and transformation, with strong moments of dry humor and body horror. It notes that the philosophical elements and some tonal shifts feel underdeveloped or corny. [Read](https://www.timeout.com/movies/nightbitch-review-2024)
- **Variety** (60/100, inferred): The review praises Amy Adams' ferocious, tour-de-force turn embodying a mother's exasperation and identity crisis with comedy and reinvention. It finds the allegory confused and the message pat and predictable despite the welcome ode to moms. [Read](https://variety.com/2024/film/reviews/nightbitch-review-amy-adams-1236136809/)
- **The Guardian**, Peter Bradshaw (55/100, inferred): The film is held back by its reluctance to fully commit to either comedy or horror in its exploration of motherhood. Adams delivers a strong central performance that stands out amid the film's tame approach to its premise. [Read](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2024/dec/06/nightbitch-review-doggy-fantasy-satire-amy-adams)
- **The AV Club**, Natalia Keogan (C-): The film achieves relatability through its depiction of motherhood's pressures but presents a generic treatise on womanhood that reinforces gendered conventions more than it challenges them, with a simplistic view and narrative issues. [Read](https://www.avclub.com/nightbitch-review)
- **The i Paper** (50/100, inferred): The critic finds the premise satisfying but the metaphor a little on-the-nose and one-note. They single out the visceral texture of stay-at-home motherhood. [Read](https://inews.co.uk/culture/film/amy-adams-nightbitch-review-motherhood-3410814)
- **Vulture**, Bilge Ebiri (50/100, inferred): The film is more an idea than a movie, with a meditative quality that provides insight into motherhood but leads to tedium due to the lack of a real story or momentum. [Read](https://www.vulture.com/article/review-nightbitch-is-more-of-an-idea-than-a-movie.html)
- **The Times** (45/100, inferred): The adaptation treads water by repeating its points about the frustrations of motherhood without advancing the story or the body-horror elements effectively. Adams is strong but the film feels like an extended monologue with limited payoff. [Read](https://www.thetimes.com/culture/film/article/nightbitch-review-amy-adams-dog-pvb63fxbg)
- **Evening Standard** (40/100, inferred): The critic calls the film completely barking and about as subtle as a Doberman bite. They single out Amy Adams' un-vain, intensely watchable performance. [Read](https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/film/nightbitch-film-review-amy-adams-b1188177.html)
- **Slant Magazine** (40/100, inferred): Despite its perceptiveness about the microaggressions faced by mothers, the film disappoints by easing into orthodox storytelling and not fully committing to its weird premise, pulling its punches instead of getting messy. [Read](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/nightbitch-review-amy-adams-marielle-heller/)
- **Total Film**, Emily Murray (30/100, inferred): The critic calls it a disappointing dark comedy that is all bark and no bite. They single out the premise failing to deliver on its potential. [Read](https://www.gamesradar.com/entertainment/drama-movies/nightbitch-review-amy-adams/)
- **The Independent** (20/100, inferred): The critic finds the film a colossal disappointment and far too tame. They single out the tidy, emotionally pat conclusions as a key flaw. [Read](https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/nightbitch-review-amy-adams-b2658152.html)
- **IndieWire**, Katie Rife: By minimizing the body horror aspects of the source novel, Heller crafts a surprisingly grounded story primarily focused on the impossible expectations of motherhood. [Read](https://www.indiewire.com/criticism/movies/nightbitch-review-amy-adams-1235045179/)
- **Screen Daily**: The review describes a gently observant comedy-drama about the perils of motherhood that could use more bite, with Amy Adams powering a film that sometimes glides on the surface of its anguished premise. It notes the patient, compassionate style but limited capitalization on the provocative transformation idea. [Read](https://www.screendaily.com/reviews/nightbitch-toronto-review/5197000.article)
- **Sight and Sound**: The critic praises the film's tender and compassionate handling of motherhood's challenges through a satirical lens and animal metaphor. Amy Adams' empathetic performance is highlighted as key to making the story relatable and emotionally resonant. [Read](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/reviews/nightbitch-marielle-heller-depicts-challenges-motherhood-with-satirical-bite)
- **The Hollywood Reporter**, David Rooney: The critic finds the film promising at the start with sharp humor and weirdness but ultimately pulls its punches, defanging the premise and not taking its ideas far enough to be seriously provocative despite Amy Adams's strong performance. [Read](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-reviews/nightbitch-review-amy-adams-marielle-heller-1235995057/)
- **Deadline**, Pete Hammond (85/100, inferred): The critic finds it a sweet, wise and glowing tribute to mothers that is funny, touching and very real despite its metaphysical elements. They single out Marielle Heller's exceptional direction and Amy Adams' believable, compelling performance for keeping the story grounded. [Read](https://deadline.com/2024/09/nightbitch-review-amy-adams-goes-to-dogs-tribute-to-motherhood-toronto-film-festival-1236081512/)
- **Collider**, Ross Bonaime (7/10): The critic praises Amy Adams' wild and ambitious performance as a mother undergoing a surreal transformation, highlighting the film's exploration of motherhood's transformative and isolating effects, though noting it doesn't fully embrace its weirdness. [Read](https://collider.com/nightbitch-movie-review/)
- **The Wrap** (70/100, inferred): The critic praises Amy Adams' committed and amazing performance that paints a full portrait of the character but notes the film doesn't match the heights of the book or Heller's best prior work. They single out its capture of the emotional core of motherhood with sly jokes and heartbreak while sanded of some rougher edges. [Read](https://www.thewrap.com/nightbitch-review-amy-adams-movie/)
- **Polygon**, Jesse Hassenger (65/100, inferred): The critic appreciates Heller's nuanced take on motherhood and Adams' committed performance but laments that the film pulls back from its body-horror and weird potential, settling into conventional domestic drama instead of embracing wilder elements like in The Substance. [Read](https://www.polygon.com/horror/491788/nightbitch-werewolf-body-horror-comedy-review-substance/)
- **The Playlist**, Ankit Jhunjhunwala (C+): The film offers catharsis for female viewers through its sharp satirical take on the drudgery of unsupported motherhood in the opening act, with Amy Adams delivering a committed, unflattering performance. It becomes a tonal mish-mash, however, failing to commit to the transformation premise and turning into a blunt marital drama. [Read](https://theplaylist.net/nightbitch-review-amy-adams-gives-a-committted-performance-in-marielle-hellers-cathartic-look-at-motherhood-tiff-20240908/)
- **HeyUGuys**, Linda Marric (3/5): Nightbitch is a bold, thoughtful, and often funny exploration of the unvarnished realities of motherhood and gender inequities, with courageous performances from Amy Adams and Scoot McNairy. It is restrained in its weirdness, however, and spells out insights too plainly at times. [Read](https://www.heyuguys.com/nightbitch-review/)
- **/Film**, Chris Evangelista (5/10): The promising premise of body-horror satire on motherhood collapses into clumsiness with purple prose narration and dated empowerment tropes. Amy Adams gives a wonderful, selfless performance that saves the film and makes it worth watching despite its flaws. [Read](https://www.slashfilm.com/1730587/nightbitch-amy-adams-movie-review/)
- **The Skinny**, Lucy Fitzgerald (★★): The critic finds the film a tonally unstable mashup that lacks teeth, criticizing its rudimentary feminist soliloquies and identity crisis while noting it is intermittently affecting. [Read](https://www.theskinny.co.uk/film/new-releases/nightbitch-review)
- **Film Stories**, Maria Lattila: The critic finds the film entertaining and empowering in its honest exploration of motherhood's uglier sides and sacrifices of identity, praising Amy Adams' committed and rage-filled performance as the saving grace. However, it notes the film doesn't fully commit to its weird premise and struggles to make its own deductions. [Read](https://filmstories.co.uk/reviews/nightbitch-review-all-bark-very-little-bite/)
- **Paste**, Nadira Begum (6.5): The critic finds the film shallow despite Adams' strong performance, criticizing its reluctance to fully commit to surrealism or deep exploration of maternal rage and feminism, resulting in repetitive and tame commentary. [Read](https://www.pastemagazine.com/movies/nightbitch/nightbitch-review-amy-adams-marielle-heller-problems-feminism-motherhood)

## Details

- **Director:** Marielle Heller
- **Director:** Marielle Heller
- **Writer:** Marielle Heller
- **Novel:** Rachel Yoder
- **Cinematography:** Brandon Trost
- **Editor:** Anne McCabe
- **Music:** Nate Heller
- **Production design:** Karen Murphy
- **Costume design:** Arjun Bhasin
- **Producer:** Marielle Heller, Anne Carey, Christina Oh
- **Cast:** Amy Adams as Mother; Scoot McNairy as Husband; Arleigh Snowden as Son; Emmett Snowden as Son; Jessica Harper as Norma; Zoë Chao as Jen; Mary Holland as Miriam; Archana Rajan as Liz
- **Runtime:** 1h 38m
- **Certificate (MPA):** R
- **Release (the US):** 6 December 2024
- **Genres:** Comedy, Horror
- **Budget:** $20 million
- **Box office:** $170,737
- **Trailer:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=918prRymA-U

## Where to watch in the US

- Hulu: streaming, uhd
- Disney+: add-on, uhd

*Checked 2026-09-10.*

Also available in: AR, AT, AU, BE, BG, BR, CA, CH, CL, CO, CZ, DE, DK, EC, EE, ES, FI, FR, GB, GR, HK, HR, HU, IE, IS, IT, JP, KR, LT, MX, NL, NO, NZ, PA, PE, PL, PT, RO, RS, SE, SG, SI, TR, US. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country.

## If you liked this

- *The Babadook* (2014), Fi1m 86: Another mother at the end of her rope, in a film that does not flinch. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/the-babadook.md)
- *Tully* (2018): The exhaustion without the fur; Charlize Theron, a night nanny and a sharper script.
- *Raw* (2016): A young woman’s appetite turns feral, and Julia Ducournau follows it all the way down.
- *Cat People* (1942), Fi1m 86: The original woman-becomes-animal picture, done entirely in shadow and suggestion. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/cat-people.md)
- *Ginger Snaps* (2000): Puberty as lycanthropy, from Canada, with the black humour this one keeps swallowing.

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/film/nightbitch