Other Mommy

Other Mommy
Starring Jessica Chastain, Jay Duplass, Arabella Olivia Clark, Karen Allen
Directed by Rob Savage

During "The Odyssey" they played this trailer that I saw for the first time, and it was very unnerving. I wasn't expecting it to be so unhinged after the opening moments and was pleasantly surprised and a movie that immediately became something I was excited to see. While some trailers give away everything, this was merely the opening of the movie - but, sadly, also the best part of the movie. What follows is a thinly written story that doesn't flush out any characters and provides more jump scares and adrenaline-fueled chases, with shoddy CGI, but a capable duel performance by Jessica Chastain and a young child actress that didn't make me want the worst for her, so those are pluses.

Seven-year-old Bella Martin (Arabella Olivia Clark) sees "other Mommy" frequently, an entity that takes on the image of her mother Ursula (Jessica Chastain) and love-bombs her in hopes of coming into her heart and taking her over. Soon she appears to both Ursula and her husband Russ (Jay Duplass), and the family goes on the run to outrun Other Mommy - but find they can't get away from the demon that wants their daughter's body.

Jessica Chastain is one of today's most prolific actresses, and one who's always underrated. She gives her all in every project, no matter how crazy it is. "Other Mommy" seemed perfect for her to express her outlandish performances, but dulls it down to mediocre proportions. As Ursula, she's clearly a woman who's fallen out of love with her husband and who just goes through the motions, coming off more as a robot than actual human. As Other Mommy, she's given a bit more to do, but those moments are dulled down by some of the worst CGI this side of "Thor: Love & Thunder" and therefore takes away from any menacing presence (in one scene, she's sitting behind Bella as her overly-big head moves from one side of her to the other, like the Cheshire cat in "Alice in Wonderland"). It's hard to really feel any fear when the demon is poorly rendered, as this one is.

The opening sequence, as I said earlier, is the best part of the film that you already saw in the trailers, but there's a few other notable moments that made the movie watchable. Bella's misadventure in a playpen and a "Conjuring" style exorcism stand out (the latter being very reminiscent of said "Conjuring," which is no surprise since James Wan produced this), but they're almost more funny than frightening again, as Other Mommy looks so ridiculous. 

The rules are also all over the place. Bella can seemingly be teleported anywhere, including the ocean, and it's never established why or how. Bella herself at one moment loves Other Mommy then is frightened of her, then loves her again, and back and forth. There's a murder that is hilariously over-the-top that they all witness, but the next scene they're having lunch like nothing happened. 

What I do give credit for is the fact that this felt like you were thrown into a movie already two-thirds of the way finished. The opening scene allows both Ursula and Russ to witness the entity, whereas other films like this wastes our time in the first act with the child seeing the spirit, telling the parents there's a spirit, the parents telling her it's her imagination, weird stuff begins to happen, they blame the child, the child blames the entity, until finally they all witness it. Rob Savage passes over this tired trope and we're immediately shown a family united, even though they're far from united when it comes to their feelings for each other.

The movie is based off a book written by Josh Malerman called Incidents Around the House, and after Wikipedia reading it I really wanted that version in the film. It's much more dark, bleak, and doesn't have the traditional American ending. As is, this is a decent film for the Halloween season but not one I'd ever go back to watch again.

The Score: C+