This movie has an intensity that is unrelenting. Reminded me a bit of John Wick. In John Wick, once things got rolling there was never a moment to catch your breath. Other Mommy takes that up a notch. From the beginning Bela is dealing with the entity Other Mommy. After her Dado and her engage in their pre bedtime dance party, Mommy comes home and lightly scolds them before ending things with the whole lights out and close the door (mostly) thing. After they have left though, Bela appeals quietly to Other Mommy. And then opens her bathroom door and closes it several times until Other Mommy appears. Jump to the next day when Mommy and Dado have a tense exchange before she goes to work. While Dado is napping, Mommy comes back home saying she wants to make Bela lunch. Turns out it is really Other Mommy (as evidenced by her feet floating a few inches from the ground.) Bela reprimands her saying she is supposed to not leave her room, and then Bela leaves. Dado pops in and is startled at Other Mommy hiding under the kitchen counter. As Bela and Dado flee from Other Mommy, the opening credits start to roll. One letter at a time for the title, accentuated by a musical stinger. And I have to say it felt like it was too drawn out for the titles. For me, instead of being dramatic and intense, it felt more Keystone Cops. But that is a trivial gripe more about a directorial decision than the story. What isn’t a trivial matter is that Jessica Chastain was great in this. Playing the dual roles of Mommy and Other Mommy was done in a fantastic way. When she is onscreen, we don’t know immediately which one she is.

But I compared this to John Wick. Because from this hostile beginning there aren’t really any moments to catch our breath. Mommy and Dado know about Other Mommy, but there isn’t really anything to do about it. After a party goes horribly wrong thanks to Other Mommy, they go to Uncle Frank’s house to spend the night. But not only does Other Mommy follow them there, she takes things up a notch by confronting Frank. A confrontation that results in Other Mommy revealing her true demonic form, and also killing Frank. The Clive Barker/Hellraiser fan in me does wonder if Uncle Frank was an homage!

We are treated to an indoor scene at a playground where they are eating and Bela goes out to play with the other kids. But this instantly turns into an Other Mommy situation as Bela is being tormented inside the play tunnels. It gets peculiar when Dado tries to help Bela and they wind up in the ball pit along with Other Mommy. It isn’t long before everyone in the place notices something is wrong and Mommy jumps into the ball pit to help Dado find Bela. But Other Mommy exhibits a terrifying ability here and Bela (and lots of ball pit balls) are transported into the ocean. Followed by a gigantic Other Mommy hand rising from the ocean and slapping down on Bela sending her and a bunch more balls into Dado’s car. Mommy and Dado now are there and have Bela back.

I had read something saying that there were 50 jump scare moments in it. There comes a point where jump scares aren’t effective. Having roughly one every two minutes in a movie crosses that line. For a jump scare to be effective, we need to be relaxed. In Other Mommy, we never get a chance to relax. So the jump scares really aren’t all that effective. 

I’m not saying that the movie wasn’t good, I did enjoy it. There’s a frequent thing I have said over the years. I love a good mindfuck movie. And this is definitely that. Because all throughout I found myself saying “what is going on?” And I love that. As a writer, I can often be ahead of a story and plot twists simply because I look at it and say what would I do if I were writing it. So when a movie can keep me on my back foot, I’m thrilled. And this movie absolutely did that. 

There was one other thing that bothered me though, but I don’t know if it was on the filmmakers or the theater. Often the sound was a very loud muffled whisper that was heard to understand.

The story was a good and interesting one that had me wondering what would be coming next. I really do look forward to picking it up on DVD when it is available. My in cinema experience clocks in at 8 stars. I will come back and add to this after I have a DVD and check it out in the comfort of my home!

Other Mommy is based on the book Incidents Around the House by Josh Malerman. He is best known for having written Bird Box (his debut novel) and also being the front man for the High Strung (whose song “The Luck You Got” was used as the theme for the American version of Shameless!