Nightbitch 2024

The film opens in a supermarket, where an unnamed mother (Amy Adams) is with her two-year-old son (Arleigh and Emmett Snowden). The Mother runs into a friend, Sally (Adrienne Rose White), who asks her how she is doing. She openly responds how motherhood has drained her of the person that she used to be.

The Mother takes care of her son while her husband (Scoot McNairy) is frequently away for work and barely sees the two of them. While she loves her son, she narrates how she hates some of the customs expected of mothers, such as bonding with other women at a club called “Book Babies”. The Mother is embarrassed when her son starts saying “fuck” repeatedly instead of his own name when the club host asks the kids their names. She is then approached by three other moms, Miriam (Mary Holland), Jen (Zoe Chao), and Liz (Archana Rajan), who all think The Mother is fun and hilarious despite her deadpan demeanor.

The Son points out a fuzzy spot on The Mother’s back. She looks in the mirror and sees what appears to be a patch of white hairs on her lower back, as well as her teeth getting sharper. When The Husband returns home from work, she brings it up to him, but he seems dismissive of what it could be. Furthermore, The Husband barely helps around with the kid and expects The Mother to do everything at home, something that frustrates her and makes her growl.

The Mother starts to notice a bump on her lower back. She pokes it with a needle, spilling pus out, but a long clump of hair gets pulled out from the spot.

Later in the afternoon, The Mother takes her son to the park. Three dogs start to approach her and the boy in a friendly way, but they do not seem to belong to anybody at the park.

While The Husband goes back to work, The Mother tries to bond with her son by having him paint in a way where he can get messy without ruining anything at home. Things get out of hand, and the boy runs away. The Mother tries to run after him but ends up slipping on the paint and falling hard on her back.

At night, The Mother finds the Son bringing in a dead rat. Outside, she finds a whole pile of dead animals, seemingly brought by other dogs in the neighborhood. The Mother approaches them, thinking they are friendly like the dogs at the park, but they start to attack her. She then wakes up from a dream and finds The Son holding a large turd in front of her. When The Mother takes a shower, she discovers that she now has six extra nipples.

The Mother goes to the library and gets a book from librarian Norma (Jessica Harper) on animalistic transformations in people. She reads about primal instincts in mothers akin to dogs. The Mother starts to embrace her transformations, dubbing herself “Nightbitch”. She joins other dogs at night, who are implied to be the Book Babies moms also having transformed since they follow The Mother as they do in real life. Her newfound assertiveness also reignites a spark with The Husband. While out with her son, she even starts to eat more like an animals, using her hands and face instead of utensils.

The Mother tries to get back into her art work. She joins old colleagues from her former gallery at a restaurant, though she feels ignored by most of them. She talks to one woman, Naya (Ella Thomas), about her own experiences with motherhood and how it has not deterred from Naya’s work. The Mother starts trying to eat kale, but has a hard time choking it down. She then jumps back and starts growling and barking at the women before eating meat from other people’s plates.

Eventually, The Mother confronts The Husband about his lack of help in taking care of their son and expecting her to do all the work. They agree to a separation, but The Son starts to miss his father. While transformed into Nightbitch, she ends up accidentally mauling the family cat to death.

The Mother starts trying to create more art, some inspired by her time as Nightbitch. She begins spending more time with Miriam, Jen, and Liz, who all express their own frustrations with motherhood and also enjoy The Mother’s sense of humor. She eventually hosts her own art gallery show, where the other moms plus her former coworkers attend, as well as The Husband and even Norma.

The Mother and The Husband reconcile as he now understands that there were things she didn’t feel that she could tell him. The two take their son out for a family picnic.

As the credits start to roll, The Mother gives birth to her second child, a daughter. A howl is then heard.