Other Mommy’s Strange Powers, Explained

Universal Pictures Add SlashFilm on Google: Preferred Source Google Discover This article contains spoilers for “Other Mommy.”

One of the great benefits for horror writers and filmmakers in using a pre-established monster, creature, or antagonist is that the parameters, tropes, and power set of those characters are already understood. While creating a new entity in a horror story is of course attractive for a variety of reasons, it can be tricky in terms of selling it to a jaded audience. The lazier option is to have them conform to already well-known archetypes. The tougher option is to present them with little explanation (for extensive explanation runs the risk of turning a creepy monster into a too-familiar threat). The latter is ultimately more rewarding, but can falter if audiences get too confused.

That appears to be what’s happening with Other Mommy, the titular demon from this month’s “Other Mommy.” The film is based on the 2024 novel “Incidents Around the House” by Josh Malerman, which is told in first-person perspective by an eight-year-old girl, Bela. As such, the actions of the demon referred to by Bela as Other Mommy are seen reflected through the child’s eyes, making the demon’s abilities, goals, and other aspects ambiguous. That ambiguity is still present in director Rob Savage and screenwriter Nathan Elston’s film version, in which Arabella Olivia Clark plays Bela and Jessica Chastain plays Other Mommy and Bela’s mother, Ursula — the demon’s human counterpart.

Bela is still the protagonist and the film is centered around her perspective, yet Savage isn’t as rigid about it as Malerman was. Thus, Other Mommy can seem a little inexplicable. Here’s an explanation of what was (and what might’ve been) happening in the film regarding Other Mommy’s strange powers, and why they make her one of the most exciting new horror creatures seen recently.

Universal Pictures If all you’ve seen of “Other Mommy” is the film’s effective trailer, you might assume that the demon named by Bela as Other Mommy is an entity only the child can see. However, from the opening scene onwards, Rob Savage and Nathan Elston establish that others can also see Other Mommy and the various things she manifests. This is the most exciting element of “Other Mommy,” as it means that the film doesn’t fall into the same old trope of a child character having to convince others around her that something supernatural is happening. Instead, it forces the adults like Ursula and Russ (Jay Duplass) to try and deal with the problem rather than dismiss it until it’s too late.

Generally, Other Mommy’s goal is to possess Bela — that’s something Bela has to agree to, which is very reminiscent of a fairy tale creature. Meanwhile, her methods are similar to those of Pennywise from “It” and Freddy Krueger from “A Nightmare on Elm Street,” which are to terrorize and manipulate Bela enough to lower her defenses.

Like those aforementioned characters, Other Mommy is some type of demon who has the ability to transport their victims into a nightmarish realm they control, where the laws of physics don’t exist. These teleportations seem to go unnoticed by others around the victim in real life, yet the results of these trips (like balls from a ball pit) seem to also spill over into reality, confirming that some or all of these events actually occurred as opposed to being dreamt of or otherwise. The film’s treatment of Other Mommy as both fantastical and real extends to her powers, which are inherently contradictory and yet are insisted upon as actually happening.

Universal Pictures If “Other Mommy” were a more conventional mainstream horror film, then Other Mommy might have been treated as an ambiguous manifestation of Bela’s trauma. The young girl is aware of some deep-seated issues regarding her mother, her (it turns out) adoptive father, and various lies and obfuscations involving their various feelings toward one another as well as Bela. Since Bela is a child, it’s entirely possible that she might turn these issues into a demonic doppelgänger for her mom. Yet Rob Savage and company underline at every turn that Other Mommy is real, which changes the demon from something more allegorical into an entity which explicitly preys on those who are having to face such a dilemma.

In other words, Other Mommy isn’t something like Pazuzu from “The Exorcist,” a demon simply looking to sow discord by corrupting innocence. Instead, she needs innocence in order to become human herself. Given how powerful and reality-breaking Other Mommy is, the only way of stopping her is for Bela’s heart to be metaphorically broken, meaning that the demon won’t be able to use her to essentially birth itself. The story, then, is ultimately one about the thorny ethics and morals inherent in human existence and creation. Other Mommy can only become human if she is wanted, while Bela is human already, despite not being wanted by her mother, at least at first.

The moral dissonance and emotional despair attached to the messiness of life are contrasted with the destructive and selfish acts of the demon. If reality is as powerfully upsetting, damaging, and false as that, then only a reality-breaking demon could hope to compete, and that’s why Other Mommy is as powerful as she is.