Other Mommy Review: A Chaotic Mess That Squanders Its Potential
Image Courtesy of Blumhouse.
With Halloween fast approaching, I’m ready to get into my horror bag, and Other Mommy was the first movie of the season I decided to check out. Every time the trailer came on, I refused to watch it because I wanted to go into the experience as fresh as possible. Even when it played before a movie at the theatre, I closed my eyes or did whatever I could to block it out. My excitement levels were high.
Unfortunately, I feel like I was excited for nothing because this movie just wasn’t good. The potential was certainly there, but the decisions made by the team behind the project left me confused as I watched. From the atrocious CGI to a story that feels completely scattered, there isn’t much to praise here. Let’s get into it.
Image Courtesy of Blumhouse.
Directed by Rob Savage and written by Nathan Elston, Other Mommy follows the Martin family: Ursula, played by Jessica Chastain; Russ, played by Jay Duplass; and their daughter, Bela, played by Arabella Olivia Clark. Unlike many horror films, it wastes no time introducing the supernatural entity at the centre of the story. Bela names it Other Mommy because it appears to be the spitting image of her mother.
The film wastes no time introducing Other Mommy, but unfortunately, some of the entity’s most effective moments come early on. One of the best examples is a scene in which Other Mommy prepares something for Bela to eat. It may not be outright scary, especially since much of the film struggles to create genuine fear, but there is something deeply unsettling about the moment. It is one of the few scenes that makes the entity feel genuinely intriguing, and I found myself wishing more of the film had explored that kind of tension.
One of the biggest missed opportunities is that it never fully commits to the psychological warfare already present in its story. Bela knows that Other Mommy is an entity, but she initially believes that it cares about her, which creates a much more interesting source of horror than simply watching it transform into a monster. The film could have spent more time showing Bela slowly recognising the difference between genuine care and emotional manipulation, gradually peeling back the layers of Other Mommy’s behaviour and realising that its affection comes with a price.
That would have allowed the entity to remain frightening without constantly relying on exaggerated CGI. Its ability to imitate Ursula could have been used more often to create unease, not because Bela would forget that Other Mommy exists, but because the entity could use familiar behaviour to make its manipulation feel more personal. Small changes in its mannerisms, subtle moments of cruelty, and a gradual breakdown of its human appearance would have made the horror feel more intimate and psychologically unsettling. Instead, the film often abandons that potential in favour of CGI-heavy transformations that make Other Mommy look ridiculous rather than genuinely threatening.
Image Courtesy of Blumhouse.
Unfortunately, the problems with Other Mommy go beyond the CGI. The movie feels like it is trying to be too many things at once. It wants to be a supernatural horror film, a family drama, and a deeper story about fear, grief, and emotional manipulation, but it never fully commits to any of them. There are some interesting ideas here, but they are not explored enough to feel meaningful.
The family drama feels underwritten, while the supernatural side of the story keeps introducing new abilities and bigger moments without establishing clear rules or a consistent direction. As a result, the movie starts to feel messy and all over the place. It wants Other Mommy to be this powerful psychological threat, but it never develops that idea in a way that feels convincing. The story tries to do too much at once, and none of its individual parts receive enough attention to make a lasting impact.
That lack of focus also affects the characters and performances. The cast is not really the problem. Jessica Chastain, Jay Duplass, and Arabella Olivia Clark all do what they can with the material they are given, with Clark probably delivering the strongest performance as Bela. Unfortunately, the writing does not give any of them enough depth to make their characters truly compelling. The family drama, the tension between Bela and Other Mommy, and the distance between Ursula and Russ are all introduced, but never developed far enough for the emotional moments to land as strongly as they should.
The performances are committed, but there is only so much the cast can do when the script is this scattered. Everything remains on the surface, leaving the characters and their relationships feeling underdeveloped. By the time the film reached its more serious moments, I understood what it wanted me to feel, but I never felt as invested as I should have.
Image Courtesy of Blumhouse.
Other Mommy had the potential to be a genuinely unsettling horror film, but the messy writing, excessive CGI and scattered storytelling kept it from reaching that level for me. The cast gives committed performances, and there are glimpses of a better movie beneath the surface, so I can understand why some viewers may still find things to enjoy here. If you are curious about the premise or simply want to spend an evening at the cinema, it may be worth giving it a chance, but I would recommend keeping your expectations in check. This is not the terrifying experience I hoped for, and I would be hesitant to tell anyone to spend their money on it without knowing exactly what they are getting into.