Jessica Chastain Battles a Sinister Doppelgänger in the First Trailer for Other Mommy
The first trailer for Other Mommy has arrived, offering horror fans an unsettling glimpse at what could be one of this autumn’s most talked-about releases. Directed by Rob Savage, the filmmaker behind the critically acclaimed lockdown chiller Host and Stephen King’s The Boogeyman, the film takes an intimate family nightmare and twists it into something deeply disturbing.
You can watch the trailer below.
Based on Josh Malerman’s bestselling novel Incidents Around the House, Other Mommy centres on a young girl named Bela, whose life begins to unravel after she forms a relationship with a mysterious entity living inside her home. The terrifying presence doesn’t appear as a grotesque monster or shadowy figure lurking in the dark. Instead, it takes on the unsettling appearance of Bela’s own mother, creating a psychological nightmare where love, trust and fear become dangerously intertwined. The trailer leans heavily into this concept, favouring creeping unease and emotional dread over cheap jump scares, with several genuinely unnerving moments hinting at the horror waiting beneath the surface.
Leading the cast is Academy Award winner Jessica Chastain, who takes on the challenging dual role of Bela’s loving mother and the sinister “Other Mommy”, the entity haunting the family. It’s the kind of performance that immediately stands out in the trailer, with Chastain subtly shifting between warmth and something far more unsettling. If the finished film delivers on what the footage suggests, it could become one of the actress’s most memorable genre performances.
Joining Chastain is Jay Duplass as Bela’s father, affectionately known as Daddo, while Arabella Olivia Clark takes on the pivotal role of Bela herself. The supporting cast is equally impressive, featuring Dichen Lachman (Severance), Arian Moayed (Succession) and screen legend Karen Allen, whose career stretches back to iconic roles in Raiders of the Lost Ark and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.
Rob Savage has quickly become one of horror’s most exciting modern directors. His 2020 breakout feature Host, filmed and set entirely over Zoom during the COVID-19 pandemic, became a surprise critical hit thanks to its inventive approach and relentless tension. He followed that success by directing The Boogeyman, proving he could successfully transition from low-budget horror to major studio productions. With Other Mommy, Savage once again appears to be focusing on psychological terror, using atmosphere, family dynamics and growing paranoia to create fear rather than relying solely on spectacle.
Other Mommy Boasts Serious Talent
The film also boasts impressive creative talent behind the camera. The screenplay comes from Nathan Elston, an award-winning writer best known for his work on HBO’s acclaimed drama Succession, adapting Malerman’s novel for the big screen. Malerman is, of course, no stranger to horror fans himself. His novel Bird Box became a worldwide phenomenon before being adapted into the hugely successful Netflix film starring Sandra Bullock, cementing his reputation for crafting unsettling, high-concept horror stories that linger long after the credits roll.
Adding even more horror pedigree is producer James Wan, whose influence on modern genre cinema is almost impossible to overstate. Through Atomic Monster, now merged with Blumhouse, Wan continues to champion original horror projects alongside established franchises, and Other Mommy looks set to continue that tradition with a chilling supernatural story built around a deeply unsettling central concept.
The trailer does an excellent job of keeping much of the mystery intact. Rather than revealing the full nature of the entity, it teases fragmented glimpses of increasingly disturbing encounters, allowing the idea of a child slowly trusting something that shouldn’t exist to do much of the heavy lifting. It’s an approach that recalls the most effective supernatural horror, where uncertainty is often far more frightening than explanation.
With an acclaimed director, an award-winning cast, strong literary source material and one of horror’s most successful producers backing the project, Other Mommy already feels like one of the genre’s most intriguing releases of the year. If the film can maintain the atmosphere and creeping tension showcased in its first trailer, horror fans may want to mark 9 October 2026 firmly on their calendars.
Other Mommy arrives exclusively in cinemas on 9 October 2026.
