Other Mommy

Broken homes are a prevalent trope in horror. The emotional trauma of families falling apart is the ideal environment for ghostly metaphors to take root. Such is the case in Other Mommy, an adaptation of Josh Malerman’s novel Incidents Around the House from director Rob Savage. The plot centres around seven-year-old Bela (Arabella Olivia Clark), who’s acutely aware that not all is well between mum Ursula (Jessica Chastain) and “Daddo” Russell (Jay Duplass). She’s also friends with a shape-shifting entity she calls Other Mommy (Chastain) that really wants to be let into Bela’s heart. While a domestic horror from the perspective of a child is a compelling premise, this feature misses the mark in almost every way. It’s tonally confused, filled with CGI scares and strips away the core substance of the source material.

Other Mommy can take the form of anyone and appear at any time. This constant uncertainty is where the bulk of the tension is meant to come from. However, Savage makes it clear where the antagonist is at all times. If subtle costume changes or Chastain giving her best unnerving smile aren’t big enough clues, then the sloppy special effects are bound to give the game away. A handful of creative sequences like dancing on the ceiling or strobe lights flashing during a séance inject some imagination and visual flourish into the feature. Unfortunately, though, the actual scares don’t carry the same level of style. More often than not, it’s a shadowy CGI figure with glowing red eyes jumping into frame with a loud jolt, something that’s far less frightening than the uncanny nightmare described in the novel.

Opening almost instantly on the memorable kitchen scene from the trailer (complete with the same frantically edited title card), Nathan Elston’s script doesn’t waste any time jumping straight into the plot. The film zips from scene to scene, getting to the next scare as quickly as it can. Knowing glances between Duplass and Chastain are enough to communicate to viewers that their marriage is in trouble, though this pivotal plot point is largely ignored for the bulk of the runtime. The result is an emotional climax that feels simultaneously out of place and unearned.

Other Mommy has the bones of a heartfelt domestic horror. However, this adaptation is more concerned with delivering formulaic frights than telling an intimate family drama.

Andrew Murray

Other Mommy is released nationwide on 9^th October 2026.

Watch the trailer for Other Mommy here: