‘Other Mommy’ Reviews: What Critics Say About Jessica Chastain’s Horror

• Other Mommy, the horror movie in which Jessica Chastain plays both a mother and the entity copying her, opens only in theaters on Friday, Oct. 9.
• Universal held its U.S. press screenings only on Thursday night, and the first reviews are mostly negative: 2 of 10 positive on Rotten Tomatoes as of Thursday evening.
• It is based on Josh Malerman’s 2024 novel Incidents Around the House, not on Coraline, and is expected to stream on Peacock after its run in theaters.

Other Mommy, the Jessica Chastain horror movie whose trailer went viral this summer, opens in theaters on Friday, Oct. 9. Its first reviews arrived only on Thursday, and they are rough.

Universal did not hold U.S. critics’ screenings until Thursday night, in New York and Los Angeles, the night before opening. Before that, the only reactions came from international critics, bloggers and influencers who had seen it early.

What are critics saying about ‘Other Mommy’?

As of 7 p.m. ET Thursday, 2 of the 10 reviews counted by Rotten Tomatoes were positive, a score of 20%. That number will move as U.S. critics post over the weekend. Here is where the first named reactions landed, from warmest to coldest:

• Goldwin Reviews, 4/5: the most enthusiastic. Calls it a buffet of horror styles that keeps reinventing itself.
• Heaven of Horror (Karina): positive. Praises the cast and the child’s-eye view, with one complaint about the ending.
• The Matinee Show, 3/5: a creepy premise with some unsettling moments, but “messier than scary.”
• The AU Review, 2/5: technically ambitious, with storytelling that does not keep up and little for Chastain to play beyond her unsettling look.
• The Jam Report, 1.5/5: says the audience at its screening laughed through the finale.
• Screen Space, 1.5/5: slow and over-directed, with a sequence it says borrows from Poltergeist.
• Variety (Siddhant Adlakha): among the weakest movies of the year, with jump scares that grow stale and a Chastain grin “more goofy than unsettling.”

The sharpest line came from Global Box Office, which called it “Jessica Chastain’s worst movie in a long time.” The complaints repeat across the negative reviews: the jump scares, the effects and a story that critics say turns silly by the end.

Box office tracking still puts the opening at about $20 million, which would lead the weekend.

What is ‘Other Mommy’ about?

Bela, an 8-year-old played by Arabella Olivia Clark, lives in a house strained by her parents’ marriage. A presence crawls out of her closet that looks and sounds exactly like her mother, Ursula, and Bela names it “Other Mommy.” Before long, it turns on the whole family.

Chastain plays both Ursula and the entity. Jay Duplass plays Bela’s father, with Dichen Lachman, Arian Moayed and Karen Allen in the supporting cast.

It is directed by Rob Savage (Host, The Boogeyman) from a script by Nathan Elston, and produced by James Wan through Blumhouse’s Atomic Monster. Savage has said the movie has about 50 jump scares, roughly one every two minutes. It is rated R for some bloody violence and language.

Is ‘Other Mommy’ based on a book? Is it related to ‘Coraline’?

It is based on a book, and it is not related to Coraline. The source is Incidents Around the House, a 2024 novel by Josh Malerman, the author of Bird Box, told from the point of view of a young girl haunted by a figure she calls Other Mommy.

The name invites the comparison. In Coraline, Neil Gaiman’s 2002 novella and the 2009 stop-motion film, the villain is the Other Mother, a button-eyed double of the girl’s mother who lives behind a small door in the house.

The two stories share the idea of a false mother, but they come from different authors and studios.

Is ‘Other Mommy’ streaming?

Not yet. It opens only in theaters, and as a Universal release it is unlikely to land on Netflix. Here is the usual path for a Universal movie:

• Digital rental and purchase first: on services like Prime Video and Apple TV, on a date Universal has not announced.
• Then Peacock: Universal’s movies stream on Peacock first, for four months.
• Then Prime Video: under Universal’s deal with Amazon, the movie moves to Prime Video for the next four months, then returns to Peacock.

More from Movies & TV: what critics said about Verity, Matthew Lillard on Scream 7 and the Halloween costumes everyone is buying this year.

— Bruno Monteiro

Sources: Universal Pictures and NBCUniversal (release, cast, credits and trailer), Sept. 30, 2026; Rotten Tomatoes (score and review count checked Oct. 8, 2026, 7 p.m. ET); The Hollywood Reporter (James Hibberd), roundup of first reactions from Goldwin Reviews, The Matinee Show, The AU Review, The Jam Report, Screen Space and Global Box Office, Oct. 8, 2026; Variety (Siddhant Adlakha); Heaven of Horror (Karina); World of Reel (Jordan Ruimy); Dread Central (rating); Decider (Anna Menta) (streaming windows). Photos and video: Universal Pictures.