OTHER MOMMY
Starring: Jessica Chastain, Jay Duplass, Arabella Olivia Clark, Dichen Lachman, Arian Moayed, and Karen Allen
Director: Rob Savage
ROBERT
When you consider winners and losers for Other Mommy, there is only one notch for the positive side: the marketing department. Otherwise, this film takes a lot of Ls because everything about it is nonsensical, strange, and visually rough. As the father of a girl named Isabella, I was connected to the family dynamic, relating to what we as parents try to shield from our children. I also appreciated an attempt at not following standard horror measures with how reveals, or lack thereof, were handled. However, the execution is universally poor, and I truly wish the closet door could shut permanently on this one.
ADRIANO
Other Mommy felt like a horror film from the early 2010s (derogatory). Instead of channelling the terrifying concept of never knowing if Jessica Chastain is a monster or not, director Rob Savage relies on cheap camera tricks and the dreaded jump scare, a tactic so overused and lazy that none of it worked on me here. Narratively, there’s an attempt at something about the human ability to accept pain, but it doesn’t know what to do with that, and most of the story feels like repetitive fodder to get to the next CGI-heavy scare that results in nothing worthwhile.
