Media365
3 min readOct 9, 2026 06:22 PM IST
Other Mommy movie review: A busy mother who is “always late from work” now doesn’t have to bear just guilt and a disgruntled husband. Other Mommy tells us her dispirited child could also invite into their home “a corrupted energy looking for a host from another plane” to fill the “gap” in her heart.
That’s one way of describing the creature that is haunting the Martins, comprising daughter Bela (Arabella Olivia Clark), Mommy (Jessica Chastain) and “Daddo” (Jay Duplass). Though they act like no other normal people haunted before perhaps have, such as coolly stopping by for burgers at a strip mall as they discuss how to “kill it” in front of their child, after having just seen one of their closest friends (Arian Moayed) ripped apart by the “thing”.
There is a promise in the fact that this creature looks exactly like Mommy, that is Chastain – hence Bela calling her ‘Other Mommy’ – which should ideally provide opportunities to stir up confusion and spread terror. However, director Rob Savage introduces us to this Other Mommy even before the opening credits, with Bela having nightly chats and playtime with her after the parents have gone to bed, killing any suspense or tension in the process.
There is also a promise in Other Mommy’s contention to Bela that there is a creeping sadness in the house that she is feeding on. But that is just alluded to, and never really explored.
After that, Other Mommy is just a succession of jump scares, with bodies and things hurled around, including Bela’s, and the film going around in loops and working its way around, painfully, to some sort of a conclusion.
Along the way, the Martins stop over at Mommy’s mother’s place, which is a castle, atop a rocky beach, with a lighthouse the only other structure around, and some dogs the only company. The grandmother is said to converse with her dead husband and knows some “mediums”, but the elaborate build-up to this eventually is an even greater mess.
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It’s hard to comprehend why Jessica Chastain agreed to this, though it’s easy to see the filmmakers saw her sharp, gaunt, porcelain-white face as perfect to seamlessly transition into something horrific and terrifying.
Most mothers would tell you life is as hard as it is, and sometimes you just have to be monsters.
Other Mommy movie director: Rob Savage
Other Mommy movie cast: Jessica Chastain, Jay Duplass, Arabella Olivia Clark, Arian Moayed
Other Mommy movie rating: 1 star
