Fans have slammed the new horror film Other Mommy, starring Jessica Chastain, as 'rushed and lazy' just hours after its release into UK cinemas. The adaptation of Josh Malerman's novel Incidents From Around the House, directed by Rob Savage, has been met with swift backlash from readers of the book.
The film follows young Bela (Arabella Olivia Clark), who falls victim to a demonic entity living inside her home. Taking the form of Bela's mommy (Jessica Chastain), the once-beloved imaginary friend starts to become nasty when spurned, spurring the family to action. Retitled Other Mommy for the screen, it condenses the novel into 94 minutes of film, jettisoning all the subtlety and spook which made it such a compelling read.
Fans react on Reddit
Taking to Reddit in the wake of the film's release, fans shared their thoughts on the adaptation, with mccarrie999 describing it as 'rushed and thrown together so lazily.' 'I wanted to love it but it was straight a**,' commented MarijunaWeed419. Noting that they had enjoyed the first half, jazzberry76 said that the film drops off after the introduction of a certain character, with an ending described as a 'travesty.'
'This movie was kind of a mess,' said Malicious_raspberry, adding: 'It starts pretty big and then has nowhere to go. The most effective scare is in the first fifteen minutes.' Meanwhile, JailTheFrogs described it as 'the worst movie of the year,' while lagartixas called it 'boring and repetitive.' 'They changed too much from the book. It felt really disjointed and rushed,' agreed jrabion24.
Critical reception
Since its release, Other Mommy has debuted to a damning 19% 'rotten' on the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes. This includes FandomWire, who called it a 'one-trick pony,' and Dread Central, describing it as a 'generic funhouse.' 'Nothing is scary about Other Mommy,' said Screen Rant, while Rue Morgue Magazine pointed out that even its creepiest scenes had 'little to support them dramatically or thematically.'
Variety deemed it to be 'among the most limp and ineffectual works to grace the screen this year, misfiring in every direction.' It's hardly faring much better from the Audience score either, with a 46% Popcornmeter rating on the website from over 500 reviews.
Director's inspiration
Speaking on what first drew him to adapt the book, Savage told SciFi Now: 'I knew I was going to do the movie from four pages in.'
'That first scene where Bella's being put to bed and she says, "Good night, Mummy. Good night, Daddo. Good night, Other Mummy." I immediately thought, 'Okay, there's obviously something here.' Other Mummy is a great, hooky name and a great character. For years, I'd been looking for a horror character who could potentially become the next iconic villain, following in the tradition of Freddy Krueger or Pennywise: a character with personality and humanity, as well as being absolutely terrifying.'
Other Mommy is out in UK cinemas now.
