CARNIVALESQUE

Oscar Winner’s Horror Tour de Force Is Absolutely Insane

Ignore the haters: Jessica Chastain is an unhinged delight in “Other Mommy.”

Maternal madness is nothing new for the horror genre or for Jessica Chastain, who headlined 2013’s Mama and now takes center stage in Other Mommy, a thriller that borrows liberally (to put it kindly) from Henry Selick’s stop-motion classic Coraline and its portrait of an alternate-dimension mother who wants nothing more than to lovingly possess her daughter.

With wide, unblinking eyes and a rictus grin that would be right at home in the Smile franchise, the Oscar-winning actress proves a demented figure of parental adoration run amok, and though Rob Savage’s film cares little for reason, its unbridled rollercoaster momentum and hallucinatory haunted-house energy make it a thriller fit for a Friday night out at the multiplex with friends.

Written by Nathan Elston (based on Josh Malerman’s novel Incidents Around the House), Other Mommy has zero interest in the connective tissue tethering together its narrative. Instead, he and Savage chase theme-park ups and downs, with temporary lulls designed only to build anticipation for the next frenzied crescendo. The director’s follow-up to The Boogeyman puts the pedal to the metal from the start, such that as soon as young Bela (Arabella Olivia Clark) is tucked into bed by her parents Russell (Jay Duplass) and Ursula (Chastain)—the latter cutting off her husband and daughter’s boisterous horsing around, thereby establishing herself as the clan’s killjoy—she’s whispering in the dark to her “Other Mommy.”

To conjure this spirit, Bela repeatedly opens and closes her closet door, although our initial sight of Other Mommy (also played by Chastain) is in the kitchen, where her pointy high heels hover above the ground as she informs the girl that thinking about the time when they were one (i.e., when Bela was in the womb) brings a tear to her eye—which it literally does.

Other Mommy wants Bela to let her into her heart, and the sense that this is more than a turn of phrase is enough to unnerve the adolescent. Even more terrified, however, is Russell once he comes face to face with the supernatural spirit, making it clear that Other Mommy won’t waste time letting its adult characters doubt their child’s claims until the unholy finale.

With long bangs and in a collection of dark, slim-fitting dresses, Chastain strikes a scarily sharp, angular pose in Other Mommy, whether she’s Ursula or her demonic doppelganger. The actress’ performance as the latter is deliciously devious, all affectionate coos and beguiling reassurances. Savage’s CGI can be hit or miss—which is why Other Mommy’s inhuman forms are often drenched in gloom—but his pacing is fleet.

Topsy-turvy camerawork operates in tandem with phantasmagoric shifts in reality to turn the proceedings into a high-speed plummet down the rabbit hole, including for its protagonists, who, during an anniversary party, get an up-close-and-personal look at the fiend and immediately begin strategizing about the best way to escape it.

Chastain’s creepily composed visage is the undeniable main attraction of Other Mommy, whose tale soon segues to the home of Russell’s best friend Frank (Arian Moayed). The fact that Frank and Ursula are having an affair is obvious before we receive our first full glimpse of the cad, and if that drains the material of some light intrigue, it’s part and parcel of Savage’s breakneck approach to storytelling, in which plot and character details are briefly tossed at the audience as the film races to another set piece.

It’s obvious that Bela has summoned Other Mommy because of her fearful discontent with her parents’ shaky relationship (and, in particular, her mother’s betrayal), but Savage doesn’t bother to underline the point because he’s too busy prepping forthcoming bedlam.

Other Mommy’s nominal highlight is a scene set in a roadside fast-food restaurant’s indoor jungle gym, which Other Mommy transforms into a Byzantine maze that leads to a decidedly inhospitable ball pit. Savage’s camera plunges, tumbles, and whiplashes about as Bela is magically transported (along with scores of rainbow-colored balls) to her bedroom and the ocean, and the vigor of the director’s staging compensates for a lack of both jolts and logic.

A subsequent trip to the cliffside home of Ursula’s mom Ruth (Karen Allen) is similarly short on suspense. It does, however, allow for a touch of Poltergeist-ish action, since the elderly woman believes in mediums and the hereafter and, upon hearing about Other Mommy, enlists a team of paranormal experts outfitted with high-tech gear that would make the Ghostbusters jealous.

Whereas Coraline’s “Other Mother” was seductive precisely because she was the ideal opposite of its heroine’s subpar real mom, Chastain’s Other Mommy holds no such allure; she’s merely a “trickster” whose supposedly entertaining fun and games with Bela go largely unseen.

Consequently, it’s impossible to imagine Bela wanting anything to do with the creature—a fundamental flaw that would be more important if Savage didn’t prioritize hyperactive monstrousness above all concerns. That handicaps Chastain, Duplass, and Clark, and it renders Other Mommy quite shallow. Still, as far as macabre funhouse nightmares go, it boasts a wild dynamism that’s enhanced by its lead’s expert eeriness.

Chastain’s fondness for horror—also evident in Crimson Peak and It: Chapter Two—is a rarity in actresses of her stature, and she gives it her all in Other Mommy, beaming with uncanny love and furious possessiveness as Other Mommy. Ursula is far less engaging, and the climactic revelations about her are as predictable as they are groan-worthy. At that moment, Savage’s film—having previously staved off true ludicrousness through sheer force of frantic will—finally flirts with unintentional humor.

Nonetheless, silliness is almost baked into the DNA of this semi-knock-off venture, and at least it has the good sense to foreground roaring, rampaging craziness rather than unnecessarily dawdle on tormented familial dynamics.

Other Mommy is far too superficial and insubstantial to be remembered as a frightening classic. Yet, thanks to its star’s sinister visage, it’s a throwaway with something almost as valuable as depth: an unforgettably disturbing central image.

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Nick SchagerEntertainment Critic

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