The film stars Jessica Chastain as both a young girl's mother and the demonic entity (Other Mommy) haunting 8-year-old Bella. Chastain’s performance as Other Mommy perfectly captures the creepiness of the ‘uncanny valley’ phenomena, with her unsettling tone and facial expressions combining perfectly to ensure that her screentime is as unnerving as possible.
The plot tells the story of Other Mommy stalking Bella, begging her to ‘let me into your heart’ - a phrase that will be echoing through my mind for weeks now, cheers Jessica. The entity wishes to become incarnate through intertwining itself and Bella; it is revealed that Bella is specifically targeted by Other Mommy due to the vulnerability she suffers, caused by secrets that disrupt the stability and happiness of her family.
If you simply want to be scared, this movie will tick that box...
If you simply want to be scared, this movie will tick that box, with Savage estimating the film to contain "around 50 jump scares"! The movie plays on the vulnerability of youthful innocence to make us fear for Bella as she is incredibly mismatched against a seemingly omnipotent antagonist and, at times, seems naive to the danger.
The scenes in which the demon mirrors Bella’s mother are especially eerie as the audience are never quite sure when the next scare is coming, leaving us to wince in anticipation. The camera work also aids the tension as the slow pans and constant zooming in-and-out allow the audience very little warning regarding what we’re about to see.
However, the continuity of the plot starts to wane as the film reaches its climax; the rules dictating the demon’s powers seem to allow it to do whatever it wants, so long as it’s somewhat scary.
...Chastain’s performance is brilliantly unnerving, conveying a similar fear-factor to Nikki, from fan-favourite horror Obsession...
Also, CGI - just why? As aforementioned, Chastain’s performance is brilliantly unnerving, conveying a similar fear-factor to Nikki, from fan-favourite horror Obsession. Unfortunately, the filmmakers opted to use CGI to give the supernatural creature other forms, none of which are even remotely scary without their accompanying loud noises and occasional violent outbursts.
Since I’m complaining anyway, why was this film/the creature not called ‘Other Mother’? That name rolls off the tongue so much nicer! Technically the name of the demon was coined by the novel ‘Incidents Around the House’ that the screenplay is based on - but still, change the name!
Overall rating: 3/5
As a horror movie, Other Mommy does an adequate job, it's scary enough and easy to follow - it's a simple, easy-to-watch horror/thriller. While certain plot-holes and a general lack of depth in the story stop it from being an especially spectacular movie, it does present interesting themes of various family traumas and troubles that make it slightly more than just scares topped with scares. I do recommend the film as an visually stimulating horror-flick, but don’t expect to be blown away.