Amy Adams is part mom, part animal in trailer for campy Nightbitch

Admittedly, the new Nightbitch trailer was not quite what I expected in the build-up to the film adapted from Rachel Yoder's 2021 novel. I can already tell this is likely to be a polarizing movie.

At least it helps that the movie boasts a strong cast led by Oscar-nominated actress Amy Adams. Adams plays a stay-at-home mother who finds her life transforming into something nightmarish when she begins to act and look like a dog, complete with elongated teeth, excessive body hair, and an animalistic appetite.

The trailer teases a story about a woman feeling a little jaded with her daily life and the ins and outs of motherhood, with all the expectations and requirements that come with it. But things take a much darker twist when she starts to bond with the neighborhood canines. Clips in the trailer show her examining her teeth, running with dogs, devouring dog food, and other disturbing traits. There's a dose of campiness in the trailer that I wasn't anticipating.

Nightbitch doesn't lean into the horror elements of its story in its first trailer, coming off as more of a dark comedy than anything. I'll be curious to see how that is reflected in the finished film.

Marielle Heller, who wrote and directed the film, previously described it as a "comedy for women, and a horror movie for men," in the first-look profile piece published by Vanity Fair. In that article, Nightbitch is also said to have moments of "graphic body horror," so I presume there is more to the story and the film than the humor shown in the trailer. I just wish they had teased a little more of that.

Apart from Amy Adams playing the lead character simply called "Mother," Scoot McNairy co-stars as "Mother's Husband." Mary Holland, Zoe Chao, Ella Thomas, and Jessica Snowden also star.

Nightbitch will be released in theaters by Searchlight Pictures beginning on December 6 after making its worldwide premiere this September at the Toronto International Film Festival.