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Jessica Chastain and Arabella Olivia Clark anchor Rob Savage’s unsettling tale of childhood fears, fractured family bonds, a mother figure hiding something sinister
There is something particularly disturbing about a monster that looks like your mother. After all, home is supposed to be where children feel safest. But what happens when the person who is meant to protect you becomes the very thing you fear?
That is the unsettling premise behind Other Mommy, the psychological horror film from Blumhouse and Atomic Monster, directed by Rob Savage and adapted from Josh Malerman’s novel Incidents Around the House.
And no, this is not the other mother from Coraline. This one has considerably more blood, a much creepier grin and an appetite that makes bedtime look like a genuinely dangerous affair.
I walked into the film expecting supernatural scares but what stayed with me was its understanding of childhood fear. For all its grotesque imagery and jump scares, Other Mommy is most effective when viewed not as an adult looking for answers but through the eyes of an eight-year-old who has no idea whom she can trust.
A mother by any other name
At the centre of the story is Bela, a young girl whose family life is already weighed down by uncertainty. As her parents struggle with their own problems, she encounters an entity that takes the form of another mother figure.
The “Other” Mommy appears to offer everything Bela might want from a parent. She promises attention, affection and adventures that allow the little girl to escape the pressures of her everyday life. But there is just one catch — she wants Bela’s heart.
It is a deceptively simple premise but one that becomes increasingly disturbing the longer you sit with it.
What I appreciate about Savage’s approach is his reluctance to spell everything out. Is the Other Mommy a demon, a supernatural entity or a manifestation of Bela’s troubled psyche? The film leaves room for interpretation, allowing the uncertainty to linger long after each encounter.
For viewers who prefer their horror neatly explained, this ambiguity may be frustrating. Personally, I find it far more unsettling. Sometimes, not knowing what is lurking in the dark is considerably worse than seeing it.
Seeing the world through Bela’s eyes
While watching Other Mommy, I could not help thinking about Savage’s 2023 horror film The Boogeyman. The camera angles, tracking movements and oppressive atmosphere feel eerily familiar, although Other Mommy pushes the grotesque imagery and psychological discomfort further.
The cinematography is particularly effective at making ordinary domestic spaces feel wrong. Low-angle shots bring the camera closer to a child’s height, turning everyday furniture and familiar corners into potential hiding places for something monstrous.
There are also off-kilter compositions and disorienting visual choices that make the world feel subtly distorted. In one striking example, a conversation between Bela and her father is framed through a narrow gap between building blocks. The physical barrier becomes a visual expression of the emotional distance between them.
These choices are not merely there to make the film look creepy. They help establish how Bela experiences the world around her.
And this is where I think some of the criticism surrounding Other Mommy misses the point.
Rather than watching the film solely as adults who understand the consequences of family conflict, try seeing it as an
eight-year-old who does not. Bela cannot fully comprehend the tension between her parents, let alone understand the danger posed by an entity that presents itself as someone who loves her.
She only knows her family feels unstable and that another mother figure seems willing to give her the attention she craves. That is terrifying.
Chastain makes motherhood monstrous
Chastain deserves particular praise for her portrayal of the Other Mommy. Her expressions do much of the heavy lifting, especially when her face shifts into a grin that is just a little too wide and a little too knowing.
There is something deeply unnerving about the way her character can appear affectionate one moment and threatening the next. The performance plays on the familiarity of maternal gestures, twisting something comforting into something sinister.
The film also explores the uncomfortable idea of a maternal doppelgänger, an imposter who does not simply want to frighten a family but to replace someone within it.
It recalls the identity-stealing horror of Jordan Peele’s Us and the monstrous maternal figure in Mama — but Other Mommy adds another layer by making the child’s emotional needs central to the threat.
The entity is frightening not only because of what it might do to Bela, but because of what it appears to offer her first.
Childhood innocence comes at a cost
Clark is another standout. As Bela, she captures the innocence of a child who is still trying to make sense of her family and the strange events unfolding around her.
Her performance gives the film its emotional grounding. Bela is not a miniature adult who understands every danger she faces. She is a child who wants to feel loved and that distinction makes her situation all the more heartbreaking.
The film’s most disturbing tension comes from watching her parents confront a threat that Bela cannot fully understand. They must navigate their own strained relationships while trying to protect their daughter, eventually facing the possibility that saving her means forcing her to confront a reality no child should have to endure.
There is an uncomfortable parallel here with the pressures of parenthood. Love does not always make adults emotionally available and even well-intentioned parents can struggle to recognise what their children need.
Other Mommy takes those anxieties and turns them into something monstrous.
Its themes extend beyond supernatural possession to parental burnout, domestic isolation, childhood vulnerability and the fears passed between generations. The family home becomes a place where emotional wounds and supernatural horrors exist side by side.
Not just another jump-scare horror
Some viewers may find Other Mommy slow or dismiss it as an exercise in cheap jump scares. I can understand why its approach will not work for everyone, particularly those who prefer horror with clear answers and relentless action.
But I think the film deserves more credit for its atmosphere and psychological undercurrents.
Its scares are most effective when they grow out of Bela’s perspective, where familiar surroundings become threatening and affection comes with conditions. The uncertainty surrounding the Other Mommy also gives the story room to explore fears that cannot be easily resolved by defeating a monster.
The film is at its best when it allows those ideas to settle rather than rushing to explain them.
Ultimately, Other Mommy is a creepy, occasionally gruesome and surprisingly affecting horror film. Chastain makes for an unnerving antagonist, Clark brings genuine vulnerability to Bela and Savage uses the camera to place audiences inside a child’s increasingly frightening world.
More importantly, the film understands that childhood fears are not always about what might be hiding under the bed. Sometimes, they are about the people we depend on, the things we cannot understand and the frightening possibility that the person offering comfort may not be who they claim to be.
For me, that is what makes Other Mommy work.
Watch it through Bela’s eyes, and you may find that the most frightening thing in the house is not the monster itself, but how easily it makes a child believe she has finally found someone who loves her. My verdict? A solid 8/10.
E-Value: 8/10
Acting: 8/10
Plot: 7/10
Director: Rob Savage
Main cast: Jessica Chastain, Jay Duplass, and Arabella Olivia Clark
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