Film Review: OTHER MOMMY (2026): A Historically Bizarre Horror Movie Featuring Jessica Chastain

Other Mommy Review

Other Mommy (2026) Film Review, a movie directed by Rob Savage, written by Nathan Elston and Josh Malerman and starring Jessica Chastain, Jay Duplass, Arabella Olivia Clark, Karen Allen, Arian Moayed, Dichen Lachman, Sean Kaufman, Adam Silver, Alec Secareanu, Travis Nelson, Carrie Dimaculangan, Hayley Spelman, Rosie Anne O’Gorman and Jessica Pennington.

Director Rob Savage’s dismal, yet strangely intriguing, horror movie, Other Mommy, couldn’t exist in its current form without the fine work of Jessica Chastain, an actress who is, without a doubt, one of the most underrated ones in showbiz today. However, the bleak nature of the film and the mean-spiritedness of it all destroys any hope the film had at becoming a horror classic. In fact, the final result is quite the opposite. This is a clinker despite the efforts of the always terrific Chastain.

Jessica Chastain could have given the type of performance that wins awards in another director’s hands, but, alas, Savage was not up to the task of “shaping” her work into that type of role. Chastain portrays “Other Mommy,” a wicked, shape-shifting demon, trying to get inside the heart of the young daughter of the real “Mommy,” Ursula (also Chastain).

This film doesn’t beat around the bush getting to the scene you’ve all adored in the trailers where “Other Mommy” burns pasta on the stove in a pot and freaks the daughter, Bela (Arabella Olivia Clark), out by asking to be inside her heart. It plays better out of context in the trailers than coming out of thin air in the film.

Jay Duplass serves as Russ, a house husband and Bela’s father…or maybe not. This film is the type of movie that has plot revelations that border on being sickening in their excesses, one of which revolves around the potential real identity of Bela’s dad. This movie also suggests that Ursula is cheating on Russ with Uncle Frank (Arian Moayed), who is clearly going to be a target for Other Mommy. Let’s face it – people have to die in a horror film and Frank has “Other Mommy bait” written all over him.

There are a lot of scenes that try to cut to the bone with their vulgarity, and quite frankly, who needs them in a movie like this? This film presents Other Mommy as a frightening demonic force, which is scary beyond a reasonable doubt, but the good guys aren’t heroic enough to want to see them succeed. This movie could just have you rooting for Other Mommy because of the laziness of the screenwriters in terms of making their main characters likable.

Screen veteran Karen Allen plays Grandma Ruth, who feels like she exists solely as Other Mommy bait, too. Now, Other Mommy, as a character, could have worked in a more ambitious tale. Yes, this film is ambitious in making the characters flawed and not easy to root for. Who wants characters like that in a movie where the villain is so downright frightening, though?

Poor Bela has an ugly scar, and it is duplicated by the real Mommy late in the film. This scar is gross to look at and is totally unnecessary to make the points the film wanted to make about the bond between Ursula and Bela. Arabella Olivia Clark is also lacking a bit in her role, too. It’s rare to see a child performer who looks like she needs coaching in a horror film because there is so much fine young talent out there. There needed to be a few more takes for some scenes in order for Clark to get them right. This film feels like outtakes more than an actual film at times.

That being said, the movie is a gimmick that almost works, but not quite. It plays the classic song, “The Great Pretender,” by the Platters at the end credits. That’s quite humorous and gives Other Mommy a lighter side to it, which is lacking in almost the entire movie. Other Mommy is so freaking brutal; she is anything but funny. Using that old song helps lessen the intensity of all of it and could leave less-demanding viewers laughing as they exit the theater until they check their wallets and realize the ticket price has actually been deducted from it.

This movie is clearly trying to cash in on the success of movies like The Conjuring and Insidious films. It tries a new angle with the Chastain demon character making her way through the movie with a vengeance. Other Mommy has a pulse, but not a heart, and that’s the major problem with the picture.

Other Mommy needed more character development to make us care what happens to the family featured in the movie. By the end, if Other Mommy killed everyone, we may have had a more successful horror movie. Still, Jessica Chastain doesn’t play and goes all in for a performance that could warrant a sequel. Given the big box-office numbers for this film’s opening weekend, it could happen. Chastain may not be a part of it, but whoever takes over the part will have some pretty big shoes to fill.

Rating: 4.5/10

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