Film

Other Mommy

Name: Other Mommy
Genre: Horror
Released: 2026
Cast: Jessica Chastain, Arabella Olivia Clark, Jay Duplass, Dichen Lachman, Arian Moayed

A body-horror fairy tale about a child's dangerous attachment to something wearing her mother's face. Jessica Chastain is magnetic in dual roles, and the film moves with dread-soaked inevitability through a nightmare that feels almost intimate. It's for people who want their horror to hurt.

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you like horror that works through a child's unsettled imagination, where the dread comes from a familiar face being slightly wrong and from what that does to a family's trust.

Skip it if you need momentum and plenty of scares, since this is a patient, mood-driven film that lingers in its unease rather than delivering shocks on schedule.

What it asks of you: Expect a slow build across roughly ninety-three minutes, with long stretches of quiet watchfulness that stay close to Bela and rarely step outside her head.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

The Babadook2014

A mother-and-child story that weaponizes grief and maternal ambivalence into something genuinely unsettling. Like Other Mommy, it trusts you to understand the real horror isn't the creature—it's what it represents.

But Deliberately paced slow-burn that asks a lot of patience. Some find the ending too neat after the buildup.

Goodnight Mommy2015

An Austrian film that uses a mother's post-surgery face-wrapping as a launching pad for escalating dread and body horror. Twin children, a wrong thing pretending to be right, and a finale that recontextualizes everything.

But Genuinely disturbing imagery that's not for everyone. The twist lands harder on repeat viewings, which means the first watch can feel unmoored.

Starry Eyes2014

A Hollywood-corruption body-horror film where something dark bargains its way into a woman's life. Grotesque transformation, genuine stakes, and a vision of the devil that's weirdly seductive.

But The body horror is graphic and sustained. Some sequences are designed to make you deeply uncomfortable, not afraid.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Other Mommy

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

The Hunger1983

Both use a woman's beauty and charisma as camouflage for something fundamentally inhuman. The seduction is the horror.

Tony Scott's vampire film where a beautiful, ageless woman (Catherine Deneuve) seduces her way through centuries of lovers. It's pure style and eroticism, but underneath: the alien thing using glamour as a weapon, same as Other Mommy.

But Slow, aestheticized, and shot like a perfume commercial. The plot is gossamer-thin and some find it indulgent.

We Have Always Lived in the Castle2019

A claustrophobic, unsettling adaptation where a young woman's relationship with her uncle darkens a house in ways both psychological and sinister. Dichen Lachman's co-star work here echoes the dynamic of Other Mommy beautifully.

But More slow-burn dread than jump scares. If you need momentum, it might feel airless.

We Have Always Lived in the Castle poster

Hereditary2018

Ari Aster's family nightmare where horror seeps up from the family tree itself. The mother-child relationship is weaponized in ways that linger long after the credits. Chastain-level commitment from Toni Collette.

But Nearly two-and-a-half hours of escalating dread. The revelation comes late, and some find the finale too baroque.

Under the Skin2014

An alien thing wears a woman's body and hunts in Scotland. Hypnotic, unsettling, and built on the exact premise of Other Mommy—something using beauty as camouflage. Jonny Greenwood's score is haunting.

But Obscurely paced with minimal dialogue. If you need plot clarity and character arc, this will frustrate you.

The Sitter1991

A dark, deranged comedy where a babysitter loses control of a household in ways both grotesque and darkly funny. The chaotic energy is a palate cleanser after Other Mommy's dread.

But Tonally messy and dated in ways that don't always work. It's more interesting than fun, which isn't always a selling point.

Pan's Labyrinth2006

Guillermo del Toro's masterpiece about a girl in fascist Spain who encounters something mythic in the forest. The creature design, the moral ambiguity, and the way innocence gets corrupted are all in Other Mommy's DNA.

But Subtitled, violent, and operating on dream logic. If you need realism or a clear ending, it will puzzle rather than satisfy.

The Wailing2016

A Korean horror film where a mysterious woman's presence in a village unspools into paranoia, doubt, and moral corruption. Long, complex, and operates on the principle that not everything will resolve.

But Two-and-a-half hours, ambiguous resolution, and a structure that asks you to piece things together yourself. Demands full attention.

A Tale of Two Sisters2003

Both are folklore-shaped stories where the mother-figure is the site of horror and the child's love is the trap.

A Korean film where two sisters live with their stepmother in a decaying house while something unspeakable happens beneath the surface. The visual grammar is fairytale-precise and the twist recontextualizes trauma as the real monster.

But The ending demands a second viewing to make sense. Some viewers feel misled by the final reveal rather than enlightened.

The Inspection2022

Both explore how a parent's approval (or its impossible pursuit) can destroy a child. One uses supernatural horror; one uses realism, but the wound is identical.

A brutal, unflinching drama about a Black gay man joining the Marines to win his homophobic mother's love. It's Other Mommy inverted: instead of a false mother, a real one who cannot see her son. Heartbreaking and enraged in equal measure.

But Relentlessly grim. This is about institutional and maternal violence with almost no relief. It requires emotional stamina.