A child’s bedroom closet is already fertile territory for childhood fears. In Other Mommy, opening in Hong Kong on October 8, what emerges from the darkness is far more unsettling because it looks exactly like someone Bela knows and trusts.
Directed by Rob Savage and produced by horror filmmaker James Wan, the supernatural thriller follows eight-year-old Bela, whose home life is already unsettled by growing tension between her parents.
Then she discovers something hiding in her closet.
The entity looks uncannily like her mother, but its voice, movements and intentions feel increasingly wrong. Bela calls it “Other Mommy,” and what begins as a strange connection gradually turns into a threat to the entire family.
Jessica Chastain takes on both sides of that relationship, playing Bela’s mother as well as the sinister figure who borrows her appearance. Jay Duplass plays Bela’s father, Daddo, while Arabella Olivia Clark takes the central role of Bela.
The film comes from Blumhouse Atomic Monster, with Savage directing from a screenplay by Nathan Elston. It is based on Josh Malerman’s bestselling novel Incidents Around the House.
The most immediate draw is Chastain’s transformation.
The Academy Award winner moves between the reassuring presence of Bela’s mother and the physically distorted, increasingly menacing Other Mommy. The effect relies not simply on makeup or visual effects, but on the discomfort of watching a familiar face behave in ways that feel subtly — and eventually unmistakably — inhuman.
According to the production, Chastain performed much of Other Mommy’s unusual physical movement herself. Savage has also said the distinction between the actress and her darker alter ego became surprisingly convincing even during post-production.
Wan described Chastain as the film’s “secret weapon,” with part of the pleasure coming from trying to work out which version of her is on screen.
That dual performance also gives Other Mommy a more emotional foundation than a straightforward creature feature. The monster does not arrive wearing an unfamiliar face; it borrows the person Bela should feel safest around.
Savage is no stranger to finding fear in confined spaces.
His 2020 breakout Host unfolded almost entirely through a Zoom call, while The Boogeyman adapted Stephen King’s story into another tale of supernatural terror entering the family home.
In Other Mommy, the setting is similarly intimate. Bedrooms, hallways and the closet become part of the threat, while the story largely unfolds through Bela’s perspective.
That point of view matters. Rather than placing a child on the sidelines while adults slowly discover the supernatural, the film puts Bela at the center of the entity’s attention.
Savage explained that Other Mommy deliberately tries to build a relationship with the girl, whispering to her and probing the tensions within her family. The horror comes partly from trying to understand whether those conversations are sincere, manipulative or something more dangerous.
The rest of the family also becomes increasingly aware that something is wrong, shifting the story away from the familiar horror setup in which only the child can see the monster.
For viewers who prefer their psychological horror with a more immediate jolt, Savage has been unusually open about the film’s jump scares.
Asked how many appear in the finished movie, the director’s answer was simple: “About 50.” But the film is not designed solely around sudden noises or appearances.
The scares are layered with distorted movement, uncertainty and a sense that the family home can no longer be trusted. Savage has spoken about keeping audiences unsure of what is real, while the creature’s interest in Bela gives the threat an emotional dimension.
Even the marketing has been designed to reveal enough of Other Mommy to establish what audiences are facing without explaining too much about what she actually wants.
That balance may ultimately be the film’s more interesting proposition. Beneath the jump scares and contorted body language is a simple childhood fear taken to its darkest conclusion: what if the person standing in front of you looks exactly like your mother — but you know she is not?
Other Mommy opens in Hong Kong cinemas on October 8, 2026.
marco.lam@singtaonewscorp.com
