Updated

Updated · abcnews.com · Jul 21

Jessica Chastain's 'Other Mommy' Trailer Terrifies 'Odyssey' Audiences Ahead of Oct. 9 Release

Updated

Updated · abcnews.com · Jul 21

Jessica Chastain's 'Other Mommy' Trailer Terrifies 'Odyssey' Audiences Ahead of Oct. 9 Release

Q: With Chastain playing both mother and monster, how will audiences know which version they are watching?

Audiences are expected to tell them apart mainly through characterization and visual cues: Chastain’s human mother is Ursula, while the threatening double is the “Other Mommy,” a supernatural entity that mimics her. The clearest reported on-screen marker is that Ursula wears glasses. The monster version is presented as off-kilter and increasingly grotesque, including the disfigured image seen in the trailer under the kitchen table. The film’s horror also depends on behavior and tone: Ursula is Bela’s real mother, while Other Mommy is the manipulative presence trying to bond with the girl and drive a wedge into the family. Director Rob Savage and producer James Wan have suggested that some uncertainty is intentional. Wan said Chastain’s performance is designed to keep viewers questioning which version they are seeing, making the resemblance part of the suspense rather than something the film always resolves immediately. That means audiences will likely rely on a mix of clues: Ursula’s glasses, the entity’s supernatural or distorted appearance, and shifts in dialogue, body language and menace. In practical terms, the movie appears built so viewers can usually distinguish mother from monster, while still leaving enough ambiguity to make that uncertainty one of the film’s central scares.

3 articles · Updated · abcnews.com · Jul 21

Social media users warned "The Odyssey" moviegoers to "look away" after the first trailer for Jessica Chastain's horror film "Other Mommy" played in theaters over the weekend.
The preview builds to a kitchen jump-scare, with Chastain's character appearing disfigured under a table after an eerie exchange with a young girl and a pot of pasta burning on the stove.
Some viewers said theaters should flag the imagery before showing the trailer, though others argued horror previews have long run before R-rated films and called the scares intense but standard for the genre.
"Other Mommy" stars Chastain in dual roles, is produced by James Wan and directed by Rob Savage, and adapts Josh Malerman's 2024 novel "Incidents Around the House" for an Oct. 9 theatrical release.