Other Mommy: Movie Review

Cast: Jessica Chastain, Jay Duplass, Dichen Lachman, Arabella Olivia Clark
Director: Rob Savage

The latest horror film to assault our senses in October arrives in time for Hallowe'en.

And while there are some terrible dialogue choices and a choppy feeling to parts of the edit, there's a lot to admire in this horror which meshes demons, possession, liminal horrors and domestic drama to varying degrees of success.

Bella (Clark), is an 8-year-old girl living in a home. Despite trying to live a harmonious family life, it's clear that on the eve of their seventh anniversary, Ursula (Chastain) and Russ (Duplass) are struggling with marital problems, which are made worse by Ursula's working late and Russ's laissez-faire attitude to life.

To find comfort, Bella has a seemingly perfect version of her mother, whom she calls Other Mommy and who comes out of her closet with only an insistence that Bella let her into her heart. However, as the cracks between Ursula and Russ reach breaking point, the entity's grip on the house tightens and becomes angrier.

Other Mommy has some incredible visual moments.

From a sequence in a ballpit that shifts from joy to nightmare and the ocean to some genuinely distressing sights, the film clearly has ideas of what it wants to achieve, even if it doesn't quite have the script or directorial grip to get there.

Whether it's Chastain grinning maniacally like an extra from Smile 2 or some inventive touches, Rob Savage clearly has the best intentions for his cast and story. But elements like a third act involvement of a psychic and her team of Ghost Hunters just turn the film into laughable rather than horrific - and given the po-faced nature of some of those elements, it's clear that everyone's taking it way too seriously at times for this to succeed.

An over-reliance on OST-led jump scares doesn't help either and while there are some insightful thematic elements here (infidelity, post-partum depression and a third act twist), the film does little to impart those moments, preferring to mash it all together and leave it feeling distinctly over and undercooked.

It's not a stinker by any stretch of the imagination, but Other Mommy certainly could have used a bit more time in the edit and scripting to have created something truly memorably upsetting.