Summary: a mother’s indifference let’s a demon in.
So where to begin with this, the film shows how Chastain’s character is a terrible person and mother, she had an affair in her first marriage she actively didn’t want her kid as it meant giving up her freedom. However, unlike modern films where that might try to be redeemed or shown as okay in modernity, the film here has her be unlikeable and has the demon mimic here due to all of these things. The issue is the ending lets her off the hook, she is shown trying to be a part of a happy family but is still sad, the father and kid should have left and she should have been left with her actions. All that is to say that Chastain’s character is deeply deeply unlikeable.
The film does do a lot of jump scares as the director has talked about, most of them don’t land. Where the film is at its best is with creature design, sometimes during an Other Mommy attack, the creature will change its proportions, and this looks great on screen, it’s really well done.
If you have seen a lot of these sort of films or just enjoy horror then this is nothing special really it’s very par for the course. There are scenes wherein a team of ghost hunters go after Other Mommy in an almost militaristic sense ala, Demonic, but sadly this is short lived.
Overall, not as bad as you’ve heard but not good either.
2/5
Pros.
The effects work
It doesn’t try and make Chastain’s character likeable
Cons.
It’s generic
The ending is too forgiving
Most of the jump scares don’t work
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