Jessica Chastain with a demonic grin, a mummy who can contort herself to come crawling out from under a table, and the promise of 50 jump scares in 90 minutes — on paper, Other Mommy had everything it needed to pull in horror fans. The snag is that the first American reviews are a long way from terrified by Rob Savage's new film. Quite the opposite, in fact. Due in cinemas on 14 October 2026, this Blumhouse and Atomic Monster production is being comprehensively atomised by the press, which takes it to task for its lack of tension, its repetitive scare tactics and a script incapable of giving its story any real substance. On Metacritic it sits at 39%, while Rotten Tomatoes shows just 19% positive reviews as the first write-ups land. Even the audience members who have started weighing in clearly haven't been won over, with the score at 47% as these lines are being written.
And yet the trailer looked so promising...
The latest film from Rob Savage, who has racked up a string of smaller, semi-indie efforts, Other Mommy was meant to be his first big horror picture built for a mainstream crowd. To play the film's unsettling central figure, the American director turned to Jessica Chastain, whose return to horror was one of the project's main selling points. The trailer certainly managed to prick the public's curiosity, with a particularly disturbing scene in which the actress contorts herself to appear beneath a table. An image strong enough to stick in the mind — but one that also seems to have set the bar rather high for a film that, according to several journalists, never manages to match it again.
The promotional campaign also leaned on a fairly bold promise: 50 jump scares across a runtime of roughly 90 minutes, which works out at a guaranteed jolt every two minutes. It's a strategy that might have appealed to thrill-seekers, but it's now backfiring on the director. Piling up the shocks isn't enough to build a genuine atmosphere of terror, especially when viewers start anticipating the beats and grow numb to the same tricks popping up over and over. Several critics reckon the film's best ideas were already given away in its trailers.
The reviews are the real monster
Over in the American press, the complaints overlap to a striking degree. The Hollywood Reporter describes a visually attractive but hollow film that strings together shock sequences without building tension to any real effect. Variety is harsher still, calling the result one of the limpest, most ineffective productions of the year, with a tone that never quite works. ScreenRant reaches the same verdict, arguing the film barely manages to frighten anyone at all, aside from its opening sequence.
Jessica Chastain does partly escape the pile-on, with several journalists praising her commitment to the role, though her performance doesn't appear to be enough to salvage the whole thing. Global Box Office faults the script for bogging itself down in easy melodrama and jump scares that end up going round in circles, while Bloody Disgusting feels the lack of tension leaves you laughing at the family's absurd decisions rather than fearing for them. In other words, what was supposed to be a gruelling horror experience sometimes tips over into unintentional comedy.
It isn't a total write-off for everyone, mind. Slant Magazine notes a storytelling approach that moves briskly from event to event without lingering on overly conventional scenes or character arcs. That construction can lend the narrative some momentum, even if it also deprives the characters and the plot of the depth needed for the horror beats to land. And that's precisely the criticism that comes up most often: Other Mommy has interesting ideas to work with, but never gives them enough room to breathe.
With an average of 33/100 on Metacritic and just 20% on Rotten Tomatoes at the time of the first reactions, the film is getting off to a difficult start. Those scores may still shift as more reviews come in, but the initial reception is clearly unfavourable. Horror fans will of course be able to make up their own minds when it opens in cinemas on 14 October. Laurely Birba is going to see it with his wife regardless — they're an extremely easy crowd.
