Other Mommy Joins 2026’s Horror Releases

Other Mommy, a new horror film, hit theaters on October 9. The film follows Bela, a young girl haunted by a demon who wishes to be human and takes the form into people she trusts, such as her mother, to enter her heart.

I personally feel that Other Mommy follows a pattern seen in recent horror movies of glossing over strange plot points and rushing the ending. For example, Bela’s real mom, Ursula, cheats on her husband, Russ, but this conflict is largely abandoned once the Other Mommy entity makes an appearance. Additionally, at the end of the film, as the family prepares to fight the entity, Ursula reveals a devastating family secret that upsets Bela to the point that she flees to the evil demon, promising she’ll let it into her heart.

However, the film then abruptly reveals that Bela had actually tricked Other Mommy and killed it, without fully explaining her plan. Although the movie was definitely enjoyable, these unresolved plot points took away from the movie, weakening its overall horror experience.

Regardless of this disappointment, 2026 has nevertheless been a strong year for horror with releases such as Iron Lung, Obsession, Backrooms, Buddy, and Resident Evil. Two more highly advertised films are arriving later this month: Crawlers on October 16, and Clayface on October 23. With one featuring spiders and the other based on the DC character of the same name, the movies deliver strikingly different horror experiences. My hopes for these films are that they offer effective jumpscares; after all, jumpscares are an essential aspect of strong horror films, but they lose their impact when poorly timed, as seen in Other Mommy. With strong excitement surrounding the two upcoming movies, hopefully they will live up to fan expectations.