Women going feral is going viral, and feminine rage is trending. We love to see it, the rebellious feminist refusing to sit down and look pretty when her cup runneth over and instead surprises and delights the audience by acting out of character, challenging the norm and burning down the house she has been keeping.

Nightbitch is the sleepless mother pushed to her breaking point and quite literally going feral. The book of course going more in depth and detail, being much more literal than the movie. Proceed with caution as there may be spoilers ahead if you haven’t seen the movie or read the book and intend to do so.

Let’s begin with the stats:

The book	The movie
Release date: July 20, 2021 Pages: 256 – Begins with introducing the mother as “Nightbitch” and calls her that through the whole movie. – Takes the metamorphoses literally and takes it further and further. -The husband has more presence. – Flat storyline	Release date: December 6, 2024 Run time: 1h 39minutes – Begins with a tired mother at bookbabies with her toddler and remains nameless throughout the movie. – Alludes to the metamorposis without overdoing it – The husband is mostly gone. – Follows a story arch and ends with humor

It’s rare to like the movie better than the book, it’s almost like loving fries but hating potatoes! How is it possible? I don’t know, I don’t make the rules, but I know there are always exceptions to them.

The movie made some just decisions to cut through all the weird details and focus on the realistic story, and it benefitted from the trimming. And it being a short novel at only 256 pages, it could perhaps even had been a short story and not a full novel?

The movie is quite clear in it’s storytelling, the mother is exhausted and doing everything for the family while the father travels a lot for work and when he’s at home he displays textbook examples of weaponized incompetence. It’s almost as if the mother has two children! (How many times have we heard women we know refer to their husbands as their kids, am I right?)

The same dynamic doesn’t come across as well in the book, in fact, it is the mother who comes across as neglectful when the husband comes home to find their two-year old alone at home with only a dog as his babysitter. And the child is showing odd animal like behaviour that the father doesn’t like but that the mother nurtures. (I told you the book took the metamorphoses literally!)

The movie does a much better job at handling the metamorphoses, explained in extreme versions of what women can experience post partum, hairloss, hairgain, skin conditions, heightened senses etc. Amy Adams goes on runs and leads a pack of dogs, but we or the husband don’t literally see her sit around and lick her child. THAT’s TOO WEIRD! But the book goes there.

The movie keeps it much more contained with Amy Adams as the perfect casting choice, and Scoot McNairy playing a complimentary unworthy husband. He played his part very well without being too annoying or aggressive, he was just flat, like many men are, oblivious. And Adams, throughout the movie was all of us mothers, snarling with anger due to exhaustion. She radiated as the Nightbitch and looked wilted and puffy as the daytime tried mother. If you’re thinking about having kids you would do well to watch this movie first and make sure you’re ready for this reality, because it really is just as the movie shows us – but not so much how the book describes it. But both do a deep dive into what stress does to women; how we can be at the finishing line to exhaustion and still find the energy – the nightbitch – in us to run another mile, and another one, and another one until we burn out. Adam’s was masterful at portraying both, even through a story that struggles a little to find the right balance of story and madness. It never really lands anywhere, but the ride is too good, you just can’t take your eyes off her.

In the book the wife carves out space for herself and contemplates sleeping in the living room. In the movie, husband moves out to a sad single dad compound and learns just how hard parenting can be. But if you’re looking for a torturous scene where we can watch him really suffer, it doesn’t give us that. But does it ever really give us that in real life? Rarely. So it is what it is. He, of course, realizes his mistake and has to bow down at the marvelous creature his wife is. And they end up making the same mistake all over again – having another baby.

Book ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Movie ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️