Motherhood is hard. But being watched while you sleep is harder
Stolen In Her Sleep (2025) is a tense, slow-burning psychological thriller that tiptoes through the blurred lines between trust and terror, motherhood and manipulation. Set in a quiet suburban town where nothing ever seems to go wrong, the film plunges its audience into the nightmare of having your most sacred space—your family—violated from within. With unsettling stillness and emotional grit, this Lifetime-style thriller escalates into a chilling game of control, paranoia, and survival.
The story centers on Hallie Morgan (played by Sarah Gadon), a first-time mother still adjusting to life after childbirth. Exhausted, emotionally raw, and struggling with postpartum anxiety, Hallie hires a live-in night nurse named Rena (Kaitlyn Maher), whose calm demeanor and gentle presence initially feel like a godsend. But soon, small things begin to feel off. Hallie wakes from naps unsure how long she was asleep. Her baby’s feeding schedule mysteriously changes. And worst of all—Rena seems to know things Hallie never told her.
As Hallie’s grip on reality loosens, the film toys with her—and our—sense of what’s real. Is Rena gaslighting her? Is Hallie suffering from sleep-deprivation-fueled delusions? Or is something far more sinister at play? Director Elizabeth Banks builds the suspense slowly, leaning into eerie silences, uncanny smiles, and the creeping horror of not being believed.
What makes Stolen In Her Sleep so effective is its psychological realism. Hallie’s fear is dismissed by those around her—her husband, her doctor, even her friends. The film taps into a potent fear many women face after childbirth: the terror of being labeled "hysterical" when your instincts are screaming danger. Sarah Gadon delivers a riveting performance, balancing fragility with quiet fire as she begins to investigate the truth while pretending everything is fine.
Without relying on gore or jump-scares, the film instead creates dread from control—how routines can become weapons, how love can be faked, and how sleep, a symbol of safety, can become the most vulnerable state of all. The climax is both satisfying and gut-wrenching, turning maternal intuition into the sharpest weapon of all.
Stolen In Her Sleep doesn’t just ask “Who can you trust?”—it whispers, “What if the only person you trust… is too tired to fight back?”
