Other Mommy (2026)
Directed by: Rob Savage
Premise: A family is haunted by a specter that presents itself as the wife and mother (Jessica Chastain).
What Works: There are some great and spooky images in Other Mommy. In the spirit of A Nightmare on Elm Street and similarly surreal horror films, the terror sequences of Other Mommy often begin in a credible and grounded setting like a bedroom or a family restaurant and then turn reality upside down. The ball pit scene is done especially well. The introduction of the family is also effective. Jay Duplass and Jessica Chastain play a couple whose marriage is outwardly stable but is internally strained by secrets and dishonesty. A lot of domestic supernatural stories go through a familiar process, starting with the child convincing their parents to take the haunting seriously. Other Mommy reveals the ghosts to the entire family right away, allowing the moviemakers to bypass some of the formula.
What Doesn’t: Although this movie is situated in a well-established scary movie formula, the filmmakers of Other Mommy fumble through all of it. Every aspect of the story is bungled, starting with the internal family drama. The marriage is on the rocks but the husband and wife avoid the issue. The haunting ought to force a confrontation and for a minute it might when it’s revealed that the wife is having an affair. Instead, the problems in the marriage continue to be swept aside. The family flees to the grandmother’s place where it’s hoped that paranormal investigators can intervene. The grandmother, played by Karen Allen, is interesting but wasted. This sequence could be cut out of the movie without changing anything. No forethought was put into the nature of the supernatural. There is no underlying logic or rules for the ghost and a lot of the action is arbitrary and random, culminating in a ridiculous climax in which the family beats up the specter with kitchen implements.
Bottom Line: Other Mommy is a slapdash supernatural story. There are a few creative images in the movie but it’s frustratingly careless with characters and logic.
Episode: #1122 (October 25, 2026)