Hiya!

A couple of weeks ago, I was all set to review a movie for Spooktober 2026. I did my due diligence as I went to the cinema bright and early on Wednesday evening since that’s when new film releases come out in the Philippines. I bought a ticket and saw the entire movie. The problem is the movie I went to go see was Verity. It turns out Verity is not a horror movie, which meant I needed to see a different film to contribute for this year’s Spooktober. Luckily for me, there was an actual horror movie which did get released: Other Mommy.

I remembered Other Mommy getting a lot of really good early buzz as it was one of the trailers shown before The Odyssey and people were freaking out because of how it caught everyone by surprise. I did see the trailer after learning about this and… yeah. I have to agree. Other Mommy looked freaky! Well, since it did look interesting, I might as well watch it… and just in time for Spooktober, too!

I know Other Mommy came out a week ago but I don’t feel it’s enough time for me to be talking about specific plot elements and sequences just yet. So, I will be making this review SPOILER FREE for now.

Based on the book Incidents Around the House, Other Mommy focuses on Bela, a child who has an imaginary friend called Other Mommy. However, it turns out her “imaginary friend” is actually a demon who wants to possess Bela and can only do that if she’s invited by the child to do so. As time goes on, the evil entity grows more and more impatient and becomes more desperate…

Right off the bat, I will say Other Mommy is a big ol’ mixed bag. There is stuff which I really liked and found creative. There is also stuff which I really hated and found really dumb. Sadly, there’s a lot more of the latter than the former.

Let me start with elements of Other Mommy which I found good. I am no way a horror movie fanatic but I am still familiar with a lot of the tropes these kinds of movies have. One of them is how people make questionable decision which gets them killed by the monster. It does try to break the mold as the main characters make some really sensible choices which any sane person would make when dealing in a situation involving an evil spirit trying to possess a little girl. As this is a SPOILER FREE review, I can’t really mention these instances here but I really welcome them.

I also do like the acting here for the most part. Jessica Chastain has to play double duty as she has to play the “classic” mommy as well as Other Mommy. She does a phenomenal job as Other Mommy as she contorts her face into weird and unnerving expressions, like a non-human being trying to approximate how to fake a smile. Her “classic” mommy acting is decent here but her Other Mommy persona is the one you’re here for. So, it’s good Jessica Chastain really put a little more effort to make the demon stand out more.

I also have to comment on the writing for Bela, the child Other Mommy wants to possess. Unlike a lot of child characters I’ve seen in other movies, Bela isn’t a dumb and naive child. She’s observant and knows there is something wrong with her parent’s relationship. The actress who plays Bela, Arabela Olivia Clark, also does a good acting job here most of the time. While she does act kind of wooden during the climax (which I do have to talk about), her performance is good enough. It’s definitely not annoying, at the very least.

Other Mommy, unfortunately, has some really major lowlights. I initially praised Other Mommy as the characters did make some intelligent decisions but there would also be times when they would follow the horror movie trope of the main characters making really boneheaded choices! This is especially evident during the middle portion as it’s just the family getting into scary scenario after scary scenario. While I will admit a couple of them are inventive, there is hardly any rhyme or reason why they would be putting themselves into those scary scenarios in the first place.

The CGI effects are definitely a mixed bag as some of them do come off as terrifying while the rest look pretty hilarious to an almost campy degree. There was even one where I actually let out an audible snicker when I saw it because of how ridiculous it looked. The more practical effects do work well in general but the bad CGI moments do overshadow the good practical ones.

Finally, I have to mention the ending to Other Mommy. When I saw it, I thought there was something really odd about it as, to me, it looked like a different movie. There was something really off about it and I couldn’t put my finger on why. I wasn’t sure if it was the tone or how it was shot but, after muddling about it for a while, I do think Arabella Olivia Clark, the child actress who plays Bela, looked a little bit different than how she looks in the rest of the movie. It’s not a lot but she just looked just different enough for me to raise questions about the ending.

I have the sneaking suspicion the film went through test screenings and the testers hated the ending. So, they might have ordered reshoots and reworked the ending to the one we got. I would guess fans of Incidents Around The House, the book Other Mommy is based on, will definitely have some questions as to why Other Mommy ends so different. As I haven’t read the book, I can’t really confirm that nor can I confirm they did reshoot the ending. I just think it’s a fair assumption because of how out of place Other Mommy’s ending came off for me.

While it does seem I’m dunking on Other Mommy a lot, I can’t really say it’s terrible. Like I said, I appreciate some of the smart choices the characters make as that felt incredibly refreshing. Jessica Chastain’s performance is also really good, especially as Other Mommy. Those still aren’t enough for me to call Other Mommy something you have to watch right now in the cinema. I do think this has the potential to be a cult classic in the future as something like someone’s first plunge into horror or something like a “so bad it’s good” kind of experience. Serious horror fans, however, should avoid it.

Byee!

Have you seen Other Mommy? What did you think of it? Let me know in the comments section below!