Universal Pictures and Blumhouse team up once more for Rob Savage’s latest horror movie, Other Mommy. It’s based on Bird Box writer Josh Malerman’s novel Incidents Around the House, a very creepy novel told from the perspective of a small girl called Bela who is visited by an entity called Other Mommy that lives in her closet.
Jessica Chastain, Jay Duplas, and Arabella Olivia star in what’s sure to be one of the most anticipated horror films of the fall season. It’s slated for release on October 9th, 2026.
Like the book, Other Mommy explores the limits of family and how fragile the bonds built within it can be if parents don’t guarantee their children a safe and stable homelife. The book emphasizes the family’s emotional woes, all filtered through an 8-year-old’s perspective. It’s here where the story finds its voice.
Malerman’s narration fully embraces the cadence and tone of a small child. It’s told with a sense of innocence that makes the entity feel even more menacing when it comes out to spend time with Bella, asking her all sorts of questions. Daddo is the more stable figure of the two parents, with Mommy being the more troubled one.
It’s clear where the story wants to go from here, putting the focus squarely on the relationship between mother and daughter (one of horror’s go-to subjects). It’s a point Malerman drives hard in the first few pages of the novel, establishing Other Mommy as an insidiously inquisitive presence that constantly asks Bela if she can go into her heart.
The newly released trailer certainly goes lengths to make this dynamic the defining element of the narrative. We see normal Mommy attempt to keep Bela from losing sight of who the real mom is while Other Mommy does the same.
Savage faces the challenge of adapting Bela’s narration into a more traditional form of movie storytelling. So much of the book’s ability to unnerve comes from the kid’s worldview, from her limited vocabulary to how the supernatural is processed at such a young age, that capturing it will become the deciding factor between success or failure.
The director’s previous forays into horror inspire confidence, though. Savage’s breakout film Host (2020), which was shot during the Covid-19 pandemic entirely over Zoom, is still one of the scariest movies to have come out in recent years. Its masterful grasp on macabre imagery and ghost designs elevates it within the crowded found-footage subgenre, making it one of the best pandemic-related horror movies to have come out while we were all in lockdown.
Savage’s other films divided critics. Dashcam was an indie festival darling, but it was met with criticism for its difficult-to-like protagonist. The movie follows an obnoxious livestreamer that goes on the road and picks up a hitchhiker he definitely shouldn’t have stopped for.
Other Mommy does look like it will be an acting showcase for Chastain, who plays both versions of Mommy. The trailer alone already shows the actress putting on a sinister smile reminiscent of one the Deadite Mom (Alyssa Sutherland) from 2023’s Evil Dead Rise scared audiences with. Her approach to the Other Mommy seems to hinge on a kind of deception that gathers its strength from preconceived notions of family, especially in terms of what mothers are supposed to suppress and represent while fulfilling their roles. It’s enough to hype up Savage’s latest.
Universal and Blumhouse are hoping that book readers and casual filmgoers will unite to make this horror movie a hit. The source material has already proven to be terrifying. Now it’s up to Savage, Chastain, and the rest of the crew to make it just as scary on the big screen.
