Film: Other Mommy
Director: Rob Savage
Based on: Incidents Around the House by Josh Malerman
Producer: James Wan
Studios: Blumhouse · Atomic Monster
Distributor: Universal Pictures
Released: October 9, 2026 (USA)
Rating: R
Runtime: 1h 34m
Content note: Rated R. A child in peril throughout, graphic gore and body horror, frequent jump scares, and themes of infidelity and a family falling apart. This review is spoiler-free; the ending is discussed only in the clearly marked spoiler box further down.
🚪 Know this first: it isn’t the slow-burn chiller the trailer sells. Other Mommy floors the accelerator from the start and drifts into gory, Lovecraftian fantasy, with wild swings in tone and a lot of jump scares. It’s also adapted from Josh Malerman’s novel Incidents Around the House, but with a very different ending, so book fans should brace themselves.
📈 The Box Office Says Yes. Almost Everyone Else Says No.
Other Mommy is the rare horror film that won its opening weekend before anyone had seen it. A viral trailer that played in front of Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey turned Jessica Chastain’s creepy mom into a horror meme months early, and it paid off: a #1 opening of $27.5 million in the US and around $45 million worldwide, on a reported budget of under $20 million.
Then people actually watched it. Critics sit at 16% on Rotten Tomatoes, Letterboxd users have it at 2.3 out of 5, and opening-night audiences gave it a D+ CinemaScore, which is brutal even by horror standards. IndieWire’s headline says it scared up its opening with marketing that was better than the movie, and Gizmodo calls it a bad movie already making big bucks.
We’re with the critics on this one, with one big exception: Jessica Chastain, who is terrific in a film that doesn’t deserve her.
A great monster, a committed star, and no rules at all
Eight-year-old Bela lives in a house where her parents’ marriage is quietly falling apart. Then something starts coming out of her closet: a presence that looks and sounds just like her mother, and that Bela calls “Other Mommy”. It wants in, and it becomes more and more dangerous to Bela and everyone around her.
Directed by Rob Savage (Host, The Boogeyman) and produced by James Wan, it’s adapted from the 2024 novel by Bird Box author Josh Malerman. It stars Jessica Chastain in a dual role as Bela’s mother and the entity, with Arabella Olivia Clark as Bela, Jay Duplass, Karen Allen, Arian Moayed and Dichen Lachman. Our verdict: a killer premise and a fearless Chastain, wasted on a film with no rules, no real scares and an ending that can’t pick a lane.
The First 20 Minutes Are Terrific
Let’s give credit where it’s due: Other Mommy starts strong. Much of what made the trailer so effective, including the image that launched a thousand memes, comes from the opening stretch, and it’s genuinely unsettling.
It also makes one smart choice early on. Instead of spending an hour on parents who won’t believe their child, the adults see the entity for themselves almost immediately, which skips one of horror’s most tired clichés. A creepy closet game with a babysitter is another highlight, though the film cuts away just as it gets going. Unfortunately, that becomes a pattern.
Jessica Chastain Gives It Everything
Chastain is the best reason to buy a ticket. Playing both Bela’s distracted, unhappy mother and the warped thing wearing her face, she commits completely, and her unnerving smiles are the stuff of nightmares. Even the film’s harshest reviews make an exception for her, including The Hollywood Reporter’s Richard Lawson, who praised how admirably she commits to an otherwise flimsy chiller.
Jessica Chastain
Ursula, Bela’s mother, and the entity Bela calls Other Mommy.
Arabella Olivia Clark
Bela, the eight-year-old the entity has chosen.
Jay Duplass
Russ, Bela’s devoted, conflict-avoiding dad.
Karen Allen
Grandma Ruth, who seems to know more than she lets on.
Arian Moayed
Uncle Frank, a family friend who’s always around.
A Cool Monster With Cool Moments
👻 What WorksThe creature. Other Mommy herself is a striking design, from her contorted body to the damp, matted hair she drapes over Bela’s shoulder as she whispers to her. When she fully transforms, the film turns properly Lovecraftian.
The gore. It’s surprisingly brutal in places, with a couple of grisly set pieces that horror fans will remember.
The visuals. Gravity-bending, otherworldly sequences and one jaw-dropping shot in a kids’ play centre give you something interesting to look at, even when the story falls flat. As one reviewer put it, the visuals are the best they could give it.
Where It Falls Apart
The trouble is everything connecting those cool scenes. Once the family leaves the house for the first time, Other Mommy turns into a string of set pieces held together by very little, the kind of movie that feels assembled from “wouldn’t it be cool if” ideas.
⚠️ What Holds It Back1. The monster has no rules. Other Mommy can teleport people, appear anywhere and do almost anything, so there’s no tension. When the characters barricade themselves in or grab a kitchen knife, it’s hard to care, because we already know it won’t matter.
2. Lots of jump scares, few real scares. They come thick and fast and rarely feel earned.
3. A lopsided structure. The breakneck pace rarely lets a scene breathe, and one viewer noted that 20 minutes in, it launches into what feels like a climax.
4. Nobody behaves like a real person. People witness horrifying things in public and simply carry on. Characters stay oddly calm after a bloodbath. Parents let their child out of sight at the worst possible moments.
5. Tonal whiplash. A team of paranormal investigators seems played for laughs, and a gory death can be followed straight away by small talk about cookie dough. It’s clearly intentional, but it kills the dread.
6. A muddled message and a changed ending. It’s clearly an allegory about family secrets and trauma, but it keeps embracing and undercutting its own message, and the new ending is far less bold than the novel’s.
See It or Skip It?
See It If…
You’re a Jessica Chastain fan
Creature design and gory set pieces are enough for you
You like weird, Lovecraftian monsters breaking into our world
You loved the trailer and have to see the rest for yourself
Skip It If…
You want a genuinely scary, slow-burn haunting
A monster without clear rules ruins the tension for you
You loved Malerman’s novel and its ending
Constant jump scares wear you out
⚠️ Spoilers: the ending vs. the book (click to reveal)
The film: with the entity closing in, Ursula tells Bela the truth, prompted by the idea that the entity wants Bela because of her innocence. She confesses that she had an affair with Russ while married to Bela’s biological father, and that while she loves Bela, she never wanted to be a mother. Heartbroken, Bela nearly gives herself to Other Mommy, but she remembers Grandma Ruth’s warning that anyone who promises you’ll never be hurt again is lying. She rejects the entity, which is destroyed. The family appears to heal, but the final shot of Ursula’s forced smile suggests nothing has really changed.
The book: in Malerman’s novel, the entity kills Bela’s parents after she rejects it, and the girl, left with nothing, finally lets it in. It’s a far darker and more coherent ending. The film’s version, with its rushed confession and partial happy ending, undercuts the story’s point about honesty, and it also repeats a gentler version of a talk Bela and Russ already have earlier in the movie.
Things to Know
📋 Before You Watch
• Rated R, 1 hour 34 minutes; gory, with a child in peril throughout
• In theatres now, from Universal, Blumhouse and James Wan’s Atomic Monster
• Based on Incidents Around the House (2024) by Josh Malerman, with a different ending
• If it reminds you of Coraline, you’re not alone: one reviewer said that film tells a similar story far better
• A bath-time moment from the trailer isn’t in the finished film, according to one reviewer
• Better horror this year? One reviewer pointed to Backrooms and Obsession
The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly
The Good
The Bad
The Ugly
Jessica ChastainA fearless dual performance, and her smiles are pure nightmare fuel.
No Rules, No TensionAn all-powerful entity that can do anything means nothing feels at stake.
A D+ CinemaScoreAnd 16% from critics, despite a #1 opening.
A Strong StartThe first 20 minutes are creepy and skip the “nobody believes the kid” cliché.
Cheap Jump ScaresLots of them, and very few earned.
Tonal WhiplashGore one minute, cookie dough the next.
Creature DesignContorted, damp-haired and properly Lovecraftian when she transforms.
Unrealistic CharactersNobody reacts to the horror like a real person would.
A Watered-Down EndingFar less bold than the novel’s.
Memorable GoreA couple of grisly set pieces genre fans will remember.
Breakneck PacingScenes rarely get time to land.
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The Verdict
Other Mommy has everything a breakout horror hit needs on paper: a chilling premise, a star willing to go to strange places, a great creature and a trailer good enough to become a meme. For about 20 minutes, it delivers.
After that, it becomes a collection of cool moments in search of a movie. With no rules for its monster, characters who don’t behave like people and a tone that swings from gore to goofiness, the dread never builds, and the changed ending blunts the very message the film is trying to send.
The honest read: rewatch the trailer, read the book, and catch Chastain’s performance when it hits streaming. Die-hard creature-feature fans may still find enough gory set pieces to enjoy.
Hey, I’m Alex, but you might know me as Asmodeus. I’m a dedicated gaming content creator with a passion for helping communities thrive. I specialize in crafting in-depth guides for RTS and base-building strategy games, breaking down complex mechanics so players can master their favorite titles. Strategy is my playground, and I love sharing the best tips to build, defend, and conquer. Let’s strategize and win together! 🏰🎮
