Title: Other Mommy
Director: Rob Savage
Cast: Jessica Chastain, Jay Duplass, Arabella Olivia Clark, Dichen Lachman, Arian Moayed
Where: In theatres.
Rating: 2 Stars
Review
When a child’s imaginary friend begins resembling her mother, one might expect a nightmare worth losing sleep over. Other Mommy, unfortunately, struggles to frighten its audience.
Directed by Rob Savage and adapted from Josh Malerman’s novel Incidents Around the House, the film follows Bella, a young girl caught in her parents’ troubled marriage. A mysterious woman resembling her mother offers affection and reassurance, only to reveal sinister intentions. The premise promises supernatural menace rooted in family dysfunction, but the execution disappoints.
The narrative mistakes prolonged foreboding for suspense, with scares that rarely materialise. Its psychological undertones outshine its frights, but the film coasts on an idea that deserved sharper writing, tighter pacing and more bite. For a monster that knows how to get under a child’s skin, it makes remarkably little effort to get under ours.
The family drama adds emotional heft, but cannot compensate for the film’s shortcomings as horror. Its exploration of loneliness, parental conflict and manipulation has merit, though the message becomes heavy-handed when the supernatural elements must do the heavy lifting. There is a difference between creating unease and merely suggesting that something unpleasant might happen. The film seems oblivious to it.
Actors’ Performance
Jessica Chastain lends the dual role gravitas, while Arabella Olivia Clark provides the emotional centre. Jay Duplass and the supporting cast add to the family drama, but cannot salvage the limp pacing and scarce scares. Despite Chastain’s dramatic credibility, the material struggles to turn its ideas into sustained tension. The characters need more than distress and ominous encounters to become compelling.
Music and Aesthetics
The domestic setting offers ample opportunities for creeping dread, with ordinary spaces capable of acquiring an unsettling edge. Silence, shadows and the suggestion of a lurking presence can be more effective than a barrage of shocks, provided they are deployed with precision. Here, however, atmosphere risks becoming an end in itself. An ominous mood is useful, but it cannot indefinitely stand in for suspense, and the audience should not have to do quite so much work imagining the horror the film promises.
Final Verdict
Overall, the film settles for a frustratingly underwhelming experience. The real horror here is watching a good idea struggle to become a good film.
