Jessica Chastain returns to the horror genre with Other Mommy, director Rob Savage's new film, but the movie ultimately falters despite a promising premise and a stellar lead performance. The film, which is now in theaters, stars Chastain in a dual role as a mother and her demonic doppelganger. The trailer for Other Mommy gained significant traction online, largely due to a well-timed jump scare, but the final product is let down by a generic script and a lack of fresh ideas, even within its brisk 90-minute runtime.
Arabella Olivia Clark portrays Bela, a seven-year-old girl whose seemingly idyllic suburban life is complicated by her mother Ursula's (Chastain) emotional distance. Bela is aware that Ursula's frequent absences are due to an affair, but the family remains unaware that Bela has also been spending time with a non-imaginary entity known as Other Mommy, also played by Chastain. Other Mommy insists that Bela allow her "into her heart," a demand that foreshadows a demonic possession that the film fails to adequately build dread around.
The movie quickly establishes a supernatural presence, leading Ursula and Russell (Jay Duplass) to flee their home with Bela. As they move from location to location, Other Mommy relentlessly pursues them, causing supernatural disturbances. Director Savage largely foregoes using the environment to create fear, instead focusing on Other Mommy's reality-warping abilities and her self-transformations. This approach, however, results in spectacle that feels unconvincing, hampered by inconsistent special effects that range from unconvincing CGI neck-stretching to brief flashes of practical body horror.
Other Mommy struggles to establish a distinct identity, borrowing elements from various other horror films without developing a unique signature. The film draws comparisons to It, Smile, Coraline, and The Conjuring, the latter of which is unsurprising given James Wan's producer credit. However, Savage fails to deliver any iconic visuals or concepts that could be emulated by future films. The central conceit of Chastain playing both mother and doppelganger is further diluted when Other Mommy adopts different disguises, a choice that undermines potential suspense as the film never leverages the characters' uncertainty about who is who.
The film culminates in a revelation about the dark family secret that led Other Mommy to target Bela. Unfortunately, this explanation arrives too late and offers insufficient impact to justify the preceding narrative.
Despite the material's shortcomings, Jessica Chastain's performance as Other Mommy is a primary draw. Her intensity, channeled into a villainous maternal figure, is likely to drive the film's profitability. However, Savage's direction often smothers Chastain's physical performance with subpar visual effects and rapid editing. The screenplay by Nathan Elston also fails to develop Ursula as a fully realized character, reducing her to a collection of "unattentive mother" tropes rather than a complex individual. The film offers no insight into Ursula's emotional state or the reasons for her limited capacity to care for Bela, thereby weakening the contrast with Other Mommy's malicious possessiveness.
Chastain's commitment to the role is evident, and Savage successfully directs Arabella Olivia Clark, whose performance as Bela is a standout. Bela has the most screen time, and the film avoids many common pitfalls associated with child protagonists. A small detail, the family's use of "Daddo" instead of "Daddy," provides a touch of characterization, but it's insufficient to compensate for the dramatic void at the film's core. Even the horror and gore sequences lack lasting impact, resulting in a film that exhausts its momentum long before its conclusion.