The newly released horror feature "Other Mommy" is attempting to translate viral social media buzz into box-office success while charting its own path away from its literary source material. Directed toward theatergoers following an attention-grabbing promotional campaign, the film adapts author Josh Malerman's 2024 novel "Incidents Around the House." However, the cinematic adaptation introduces notable adjustments to key sequences, demonic characteristics, and the narrative's ultimate conclusion.
Starring Jessica Chastain as Ursula and Arabella Olivia Clark as her young daughter Bela, the story focuses on a malevolent entity that mirrors Ursula's likeness to win Bela's trust. While the core premise remains aligned with Malerman's book, the cinematic treatment makes significant creative shifts to increase visual spectacle, intensify on-screen violence, and deliver a vastly different thematic outcome.
Comparison Between 'Incidents Around the House' and 'Other Mommy'
| Story Element | Novel ('Incidents Around the House') | Film Adaptation ('Other Mommy') |
|---|---|---|
| Demon Appearance | Avian qualities, shifting face, foul odor, causes coughing | Convincing mimic of Ursula with subtle levitation and facial drooping |
| Playground Sequence | Tense confrontation at a playground ending in Bela's fall | Surreal setpiece inside an endless ball pit at a family fun center |
| Séance Scene | Fake spiritualists flee after realizing they are in over their heads | Ghost hunting squad is summoned and killed by the demon |
| Frank's Death | Occurs off-page; body is found inside a closet | Killed explicitly in front of Bela with an exploding head |
| Climax and Resolution | Parents are killed; demon takes Bela's body while Bela is trapped in purgatory | Bela rejects the demon, defeating it and leaving the family alive |
Demonic Appearances and Reimagined Early Setpieces
In Malerman's novel, the entity demonstrates unsettling, overt physical tells. The text portrays the figure with avian qualities, unstable facial features, an offensive odor, and an oppressive presence that induces coughing in those around it. By contrast, the film version depicts the entity as a highly effective mimic. On screen, the demon mostly passes as Ursula, betraying its supernatural origins only through subtle physical cues such as slight levitation or facial drooping.
Physical locations also underwent dramatic revisions for the screen. A crucial early encounter in the book unfolds at a local playground, concluding with Bela suffering a severe fall. The film reinterprets this sequence into an elaborate, surreal setpiece inside a Chuck E. Cheese-style family entertainment venue. In the adaptation, Bela follows the entity into an endless ball pit, prompting her parents—Ursula and Russell, played by Jay Duplass—to dive in after her. Bela is subsequently transported across surreal visions of the ocean and the family vehicle before the chase concludes.
Escalated Carnage and High-Stakes Encounters
The cinematic adaptation significantly amplifies the story's physical danger and body count compared to the page. In Malerman's book, an attempted séance is conducted by fraudulent spiritualists who quickly abandon the effort upon recognizing they are out of their depth. The film pivots this moment into lethal violence; when Bela's grandmother Ruth (Karen Allen) arranges a séance with an equipped team of paranormal investigators, the entity manifests and abruptly slaughters the entire squad.
A similarly drastic escalation occurs surrounding the fate of family acquaintance Frank, portrayed on screen by Arian Moayed. Frank, who harbors an affair with Ursula, hosts the fractured family at his home after a disrupted gathering. In the novel, Frank's demise occurs off-page, with Ursula later informing Bela that his body was discovered in a closet. In the film, the demon manipulates Bela into agreeing that their household would function better without Frank, culminating in an explicit sequence where the entity brutally executes him in front of the child by exploding his head.
Divergent Endings Change the Story's Meaning
The sharpest division between the two works lies in how they resolve Bela's battle against the entity. Throughout both formats, the demon repeatedly urges Bela to invite it into her heart, seeking full possession of the girl.
The film concludes on a comparatively hopeful note. Bela ultimately defies the entity's commands and refuses access, which defeats Other Mommy. While the family of three survives and remains united, the closing moments retain an underlying tension between Bela and her mother.
In stark contrast, Malerman's original novel ends on an exceedingly bleak note. The written climax reveals that the entity murdered Grandma Ruth, assumed her identity, and used the disguise to lead both Russell and Ursula to their deaths. Left completely isolated, the novel's Bela finally concedes to the creature's demands, allowing Other Mommy to inhabit her body while trapping Bela's consciousness in the demon's desolate origin realm.
As "Other Mommy" continues its theatrical run, the differences between the novel and the screen version underscore how cinematic adaptations often trade psychological bleakness for visceral horror and conclusive resolutions.
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Source: Variety
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