Jessica Chastain Plays Her Own Nightmare in the Terrifying New ‘Other Mommy’ Trailer
Horror has always thrived on turning familiar comforts into sources of dread, and few things feel more universally comforting than a parent’s presence in the home. That instinct is exactly what one of this fall’s most unsettling new releases is built to exploit.
Blumhouse and Atomic Monster have carved out a reputation for finding fresh angles on domestic horror, and their latest collaboration leans directly into that space. With Halloween season approaching, the studio’s newest release is positioning itself as one of the genre’s more talked-about surprises heading into October.
‘Other Mommy‘ has released a new trailer that’s already unsettling horror fans, and the premise centers on a chilling twist: Jessica Chastain playing both a loving mother and the sinister entity impersonating her. The film follows Bela, an eight-year-old girl living in a household already strained by marital tension, as she begins confronting a mysterious presence that emerges from her bedroom closet looking exactly like her own mother.
Chastain takes on dual roles as Ursula, Bela’s mother, and the entity known only as “Other Mommy,” a supernatural double whose growing power slowly pulls the entire family into an escalating nightmare. The trailer teases the entity’s unsettling dialogue directly, with the character asking Bela, “Can I go inside your heart?” as the line between the real mother and her double becomes harder to distinguish.
New trailer for ‘OTHER MOMMY’, starring Jessica Chastain and Jessica Chastain.
— DiscussingFilm (@DiscussingFilm) September 15, 2026
The film follows a young girl who is threatened by a sinister demon that looks exactly like her mother.
In theaters on October 9. pic.twitter.com/Xwu3FI6pYz
‘Other Mommy’ is based on Josh Malerman’s novel ‘Incidents Around the House,’ adapted for the screen by Nathan Elston, whose previous writing credits include ‘Succession.’ Rob Savage, the director behind ‘Host,’ ‘Dashcam,’ and ‘The Boogeyman,’ takes the helm for this latest project, continuing his run of genre work built around slow-building dread rather than jump-scare spectacle alone.
The film also brings Chastain back into horror territory after a string of genre credits spanning over a decade, including ‘Take Shelter,’ ‘Mama,’ ‘Crimson Peak,’ and ‘It: Chapter Two.’ Rounding out the cast are Arabella Olivia Clark as Bela, Jay Duplass as her father Russ, along with Dichen Lachman, Arian Moayed, and Karen Allen as Bela’s grandmother.
‘Other Mommy’ was originally scheduled to hit theaters back in May, but Universal opted to push the release to October 9 instead, positioning the film squarely within the heart of Halloween moviegoing season. That timing places it alongside ‘The Legend of Aang: The Last Airbender’ on the same release weekend, giving audiences a clear horror alternative amid the broader October slate.
The trailer itself has already been building buzz well before its wider online release, having played exclusively in theaters ahead of screenings for Christopher Nolan’s ‘The Odyssey’ earlier this year. That placement alone signaled just how much confidence Universal has in the film’s ability to unsettle audiences on the big screen before it ever reaches a wider release.
With James Wan producing through Atomic Monster and Blumhouse’s genre pedigree backing the project, ‘Other Mommy’ looks positioned to become one of the fall’s more genuinely disturbing horror releases, built around a premise that turns something as reassuring as a mother’s presence into its own source of terror.
What do you think of the new Other Mommy trailer?
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