15 Chilling Movies Like ‘Other Mommy’

The 2026 supernatural horror film ‘Other Mommy‘, directed by Rob Savage and based on Josh Malerman’s novel ‘Incidents Around the House’, explores domestic vulnerability through a demonic entity that adopts a mother’s likeness to prey on a child. Blending psychological tension with maternal dread, doppelgänger mythology, and haunted domestic spaces, the film examines how familial strain can open the door to sinister supernatural forces.

Audiences seeking similar narratives will find a wealth of horror titles that explore impostor maternal figures, children targeted by deceptive entities, and malevolent doubles infiltrating the home.

‘Coraline’ (2009)

Directed by Henry Selick and based on Neil Gaiman’s novella, the stop-motion film follows a young girl named Coraline Jones who discovers a secret door in her new home. Behind the door lies an alternate reality ruled by the Other Mother, an entity who mimics Coraline’s real mother but has black buttons for eyes. The parallel world turns sinister when the Other Mother attempts to sew buttons into Coraline’s eyes and trap her soul forever. Coraline must outwit the manipulative doppelgänger to rescue her real parents and the spirits of previously trapped children.

‘Mama’ (2013)

Directed by Andy Muschietti, this supernatural horror film stars Jessica Chastain and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau as guardians caring for two feral young nieces found in an abandoned cabin. The sisters survived years in isolation under the protection of a ghostly maternal entity they refer to as Mama. When the children move into a suburban home with their uncle and his partner Annabel, the spirit follows them and asserts her ownership over the girls. Annabel is forced to confront the possessive phantom to keep the children safe from being dragged into the afterlife.

‘The Boogeyman’ (2023)

Directed by Rob Savage, this adaptation of Stephen King’s short story centers on high school student Sadie Harper and her younger sister Sawyer. The siblings grieve the loss of their mother while their therapist father struggles to connect with them emotionally. A malevolent entity infiltrates their home, lurking in dark corners and mimicking human voices to prey on the family’s vulnerability. The sisters must band together to combat the monster before it consumes their entire household.

‘Goodnight Mommy’ (2014)

Directed by Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala, this Austrian psychological horror film follows nine-year-old twin brothers Elias and Lukas. The boys welcome their mother home after she undergoes extensive facial cosmetic surgery that leaves her head wrapped in bandages. Her distant and erratic behavior leads the twins to suspect that the woman beneath the bandages is an impostor who has replaced their real mother. The boys resort to extreme measures to uncover the truth, resulting in a tense domestic conflict in their secluded countryside residence.

‘The Babadook’ (2014)

Directed by Jennifer Kent, the story centers on Amelia, a widowed mother raising her troubled six-year-old son Samuel. After reading a mysterious pop-up book about a creature named Mister Babadook, Samuel becomes convinced that the monster is stalking their home. Amelia initially dismisses her son’s fears, but unexplainable occurrences and sleep deprivation cause her own grip on reality to fracture. The entity feeds on Amelia’s suppressed grief and maternal exhaustion, forcing her to confront the darkness threatening to destroy her family.

‘The Hole in the Ground’ (2019)

Directed by Lee Cronin, the film follows Sarah O’Neill as she moves into a rural Irish home with her young son Chris. After Chris briefly disappears into the surrounding woods near a massive sinkhole, he returns seemingly unharmed. Sarah begins noticing subtle yet unsettling changes in Chris’s personality and physical behavior, leading her to believe he is a changeling. Her maternal instincts are pushed to the limit as she investigates local folklore to discover what happened to her real son.

‘The Wretched’ (2019)

Written and directed by Brett Pierce and Drew T. Pierce, the film centers on a teenager named Ben who visits his father for the summer. Ben suspects something is wrong when his neighbor’s mother begins displaying bizarre physical habits and sinister behavior. He discovers that an ancient woodland witch has possessed the woman, using her form to abduct neighborhood children and erase their existence from their families’ memories. Ben risks his own safety to expose the parasitic entity before it claims more victims in the small marina town.

‘Lights Out’ (2016)

Directed by David F. Sandberg, this supernatural horror film follows Rebecca, a young woman who left home to escape her family’s childhood terrors. When her younger brother Martin experiences identical encounters with a shadowy silhouette in their mother’s house, Rebecca intervenes. The sibling pair discovers that their mother Sophie has a supernatural attachment to a malicious entity named Diana that only manifests in darkness. The family must keep their surroundings illuminated while fighting to sever the deadly bond between Sophie and the creature.

‘Cobweb’ (2023)

Directed by Samuel Bodin, the film centers on eight-year-old Peter, who is plagued by mysterious tapping sounds originating inside his bedroom wall. Peter’s parents dismiss his concerns, insisting the noises are merely figments of his overactive imagination. As the voice behind the wall begins speaking to Peter directly, it warns him that his parents are hiding dark secrets and cannot be trusted. Peter faces a dilemma between obeying his strict parents and trusting the uncanny voice offering him guidance in the house.

‘Us’ (2019)

Directed by Jordan Peele, the film follows Adelaide Wilson as she returns with her husband and two children to her childhood beachfront home. The family’s vacation turns into a struggle for survival when a group of red-jumpsuit-clad doppelgängers arrives at their driveway. These duplicates, known as the Tethered, share an identical appearance with the Wilson family and seek to replace them entirely. Adelaide is forced into a physical confrontation with her counterpart, Red, in order to protect her children from the subterranean uprising.

‘Hereditary’ (2018)

Directed by Ari Aster, the story focuses on miniature artist Annie Graham and her family following the death of her secretive mother. When an unexpected tragedy strikes the household, the family’s grief exposes disturbing occult rituals tied to their ancestry. A demonic presence begins manipulating Annie, fracturing her relationship with her teenage son Peter and her husband Steve. As supernatural occurrences escalate, Annie uncovers the extent of an ancestral conspiracy targeting her family for demonic possession.

‘The Night House’ (2020)

Directed by David Bruckner, the film stars Rebecca Hall as Beth, a teacher coping with the sudden suicide of her architect husband Owen. While living alone in the lakeside house Owen designed, Beth experiences disturbing nightmares and glimpses of an unseen presence. Her search through Owen’s belongings uncovers floor plans for an inverted copy of their house and evidence of women who resemble her. Beth confronts a supernatural force that impersonated Owen and manipulated their lives through architectural trickery and psychological deception.

‘Relic’ (2020)

Directed by Natalie Erika James, this psychological horror film follows Kay and her daughter Sam as they travel to their family’s remote country home. The two women arrive to search for Kay’s elderly mother Edna, who has mysteriously vanished from the residence. When Edna reappears unharmed with no explanation, her volatile behavior and a creeping black mold suggest an insidious presence inside the walls. The three generations of women must navigate shifting architectural corridors while confronting a manifestation that targets their family line.

‘Insidious’ (2010)

Directed by James Wan, the film centers on parents Josh and Renai Lambert after their young son Dalton mysteriously falls into a coma. When paranormal activity plagues their home, the family relocates, only to discover that the malevolent entities have followed them. A psychic investigator and her paranormal team reveal that Dalton is an astral projector trapped in an ethereal realm called The Further. Josh must enter the spiritual dimension to retrieve Dalton before demonic entities seize control of the boy’s physical body.

‘Smile’ (2022)

Directed by Parker Finn, the film follows clinical psychiatrist Dr. Rose Cotter after she witnesses the bizarre suicide of a patient. Following the traumatic event, Rose begins experiencing hallucinations of smiling figures and manifestations of people from her past. She discovers that an ancient parasite feeds on trauma, passing from victim to victim by tormenting them with psychological illusions. Rose must confront her own unresolved childhood trauma involving her late mother before the entity claims her life.

Share your thoughts on these films and your favorite maternal horror stories in the comments.