Bela, an eight-year-old girl living in a home with marital problems, confronts a sinister entity that comes out of her closet. The presence, whom she calls "Other Mommy," becomes increasingly threatening to her and her family.
Director: Rob Savage
Cast: Jessica Chastain, Jay Duplass, Dichen Lachman, Arian Moayed, Karen Allen
Release Date: October 9, 2026
Genre: Horror, Thriller
Rated R for some bloody violence, and language.
Runtime: 1h 34m
Review:
Other Mommy is a derivative, messy horror film that still manages to be entertaining thanks to some showy visuals and a deliciously committed turn from Jessica Chastain. The film waste little time getting right into the meat of the story with the film’s buzzy trailer serving as the opening salvo. Rob Savage keeps the film efficiently paced which works in its favor since the script offers up haphazard bits of lore that don’t make much sense the more you think about it. Savage makes it easier to overlook these shortfalls by delivering a series of set ups and jump scares that are visually impactful especially as they get more hallucinatory and abstract. Savage uses slivers of his 2023’s film, The Boogeyman, along with bits of The Nightmare on Elm Street series and the late 90’s Ju-On (The Grudge) to craft his story with some elements working better than others. The story tries to weave in a deeper thread about family discord but it’s handled in such a clunky manner that it fails to land in spite of the cast’s best efforts. Leading the way is Jessica Chastain who is clearly having a blast playing the Other Mommy role. She clearly relishes the opportunity to play in this sandbox as she creates a rather disturbing presence by using a series of unblinking facial expressions and unsettling vocal intonations. She’s much more muted in her non demonic role of Ursula with the performance echoing her turn in the television miniseries, Scenes from a Marriage, but with much more running and screaming. Chastain keeps the whole thing afloat by sheer will as the script gets more and more nonsensical as it moves along. Her screen family played by Jay Duplass and Arabella Olivia Clark bring an earnest, natural energy to their roles even if they are both woefully underwritten. Familiar faces such as Karen Allen and Dichen Lachman pop up in a rushed exorcism scene that feels like it would have been more memorable if the characters had been set up and fleshed out a tad more. Once its all said and done, Other Mommy maybe an imperfect vessel but there’s still enough entertaining thrills paired with a memorable turn from Jessica Chastain to make it a fun bit mindless genre fun.
B-
