Other Mommy
Blumhouse’s creepiest family portrait yet has arrived, and no, that’s not really your mom in the kitchen
If you’ve ever come home to find your mother acting slightly off, a little too calm, a little too flexible, standing in a doorway a beat too long, congratulations, you now have a horror movie that speaks directly to your trauma. Universal and Blumhouse have released the first trailer for Other Mommy, and it might just be the most unsettling use of the word “mommy” since, well, ever.
Directed by Rob Savage (the guy who turned a Zoom call into a nightmare in Host) and produced by horror heavyweight James Wan, Other Mommy stars Jessica Chastain in a dual role that’s already got horror fans buzzing louder than a smoke detector with a dying battery. Here’s everything the trailer reveals, scene by unsettling scene.
Wait, What Is “Other Mommy” Actually About?
The film is based on Josh Malerman’s novel Incidents Around the House (yes, the same author who gave us Bird Box, so pack a blindfold just in case). The story follows eight-year-old Bela, a little girl living in a home already strained by marital tension, who starts noticing something living in her closet. That something wears her mother’s face. That something calls itself “Other Mommy.”
Chastain plays double duty here: she’s Ursula, Bela’s very real, very stressed working mother, and she’s also the entity terrorizing her daughter. It’s the ultimate parenting nightmare dressed up as a monster movie, what if the person supposed to protect you had a body double with unclear intentions and a serious flexibility routine?
The Trailer, Beat by Beat
The preview opens deceptively soft. Bela is home, sneaking cookie dough ice cream she isn’t supposed to have, when Ursula arrives on her lunch break to spend time with her daughter. Almost immediately something feels off, Ursula offers to make Bela scrambled eggs, seemingly forgetting she’d already made eggs for breakfast that same morning. Small, weird, easy to miss on a first watch. That’s the point.
Things escalate fast from there. The smoke alarm blares, and Bela’s father, Russ (Jay Duplass), comes running into a smoke-filled kitchen to find out what she’s been cooking on her own. As he kneels down to check on her, the trailer delivers its gut-punch: Ursula is visible under the kitchen table, body impossibly contorted, limbs bent in ways that make it very clear this is not actually Bela’s mother.
From there it’s a barrage of dread. The entity keeps asking Bela the same unsettling question, “Can I go inside your heart?”, and the more she refuses, the more aggressive it becomes. The trailer closes on another jolt: Other Mommy turning up, twisted and menacing, inside a car’s boot ball pit, proof that this movie is willing to make even a kid’s birthday party accessory feel like a crime scene.
The genius touch throughout: Ursula wears glasses, and Other Mommy doesn’t. It’s a small visual cue, but it means the audience, like poor Bela, has to keep checking who’s who. Every scene becomes a game of “wait, is that the real one?” which is exactly the kind of quiet dread that sticks with you long after the credits roll.
Why This Trailer Is Getting So Much Attention
Universal didn’t just drop this trailer into the usual online scrum of coming-attractions clips. Instead, it played exclusively in theaters ahead of screenings of Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey before finally hitting the internet. That’s a savvy move, turning a two-minute preview into a genuine “were you there?” moment, the kind studios used to pull off before every trailer leaked online three weeks early.
It worked. Social media reaction has been loud, and more than a few commenters have pointed out that the trailer is scarier than most full horror movies released this year. When your two-minute preview has people questioning whether they need to sleep with the lights on, you’ve done your job.
The Cast Bringing the Nightmare to Life
- Jessica Chastain as Ursula “Other Mommy”, pulling off the rare trick of playing both the protector and the threat
- Arabella Olivia Clark as Bela, the eight-year-old caught in the middle of it all
- Jay Duplass as Russ, Bela’s father, who is very much not picking up on the household’s escalating weirdness fast enough
- Dichen Lachman and Karen Allen round out the cast in supporting roles
The screenplay comes from Nathan Elston, a WGA Award winner best known for his work on Succession, proof that prestige-TV writing chops translate surprisingly well to “evil mom clone hides in closet” territory.
When Can You See It?
Other Mommy was originally slated for a May 2026 release before Universal wisely bumped it to October 9, 2026, giving it a prime slot right in the middle of spooky season. Smart move, this is exactly the kind of movie you want to see in a packed theater in October, ideally with someone next to you who will grab your arm at the right moments.
The Bottom Line
Other Mommy taps into something deceptively simple and deeply effective: the fear that the safest person in your life might not be who they claim to be. Add in Chastain’s committed dual performance, Rob Savage’s knack for slow-building dread, and a marketing rollout smart enough to make a movie trailer feel like an event again, and you’ve got one of the buzziest horror releases of the fall calendar.
One thing’s for sure, this Halloween, a lot of kids are going to side-eye their moms a little longer than usual before giving them a hug.
Mark your calendars, “Other Mommy” creeps into theaters October 9, 2026, and you’ll never look at your own mom the same way again.
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