#SHOWBIZ: 'Other Mommy' review: Jessica Chastain horror fails to deliver real chills

I REMEMBER how terrified my niece was of the 'Other Mother in Coraline'.

Behind those black button eyes was a creature who understood exactly what an unhappy child wanted: attention, affection and a home where everything seemed better.

The horror lay in watching that promise unravel.

What first appeared warm and welcoming gradually became possessive and monstrous, until the motherly figure revealed herself as a spidery creature with needle-like fingers.

Directed by Henry Selick and made by Laika, the 2009 stop-motion adaptation of Neil Gaiman's novella understood how frightening it could be when love came with conditions.

So, when 'Other Mommy' came along, the title alone was enough to interest us.

Another sinister substitute mother, another vulnerable child. We went to the cinema wondering whether this one would leave a similar impression.

Unfortunately, familiarity with the idea only makes its shortcomings harder to ignore.

A PLACE IN HER HEART

Directed by Rob Savage from Nathan Elston's screenplay, 'Other Mommy' adapts Josh Malerman's novel 'Incidents Around the House'.

Arabella Olivia Clark plays Bela, a young girl whose troubled family life leaves an opening for something sinister.

Jessica Chastain takes on the dual roles of her mother, Ursula, and the entity Bela calls "Other Mommy", while Jay Duplass plays her father.

Bela is struggling with a new school and the growing distance between her parents. Ursula is consumed by her corporate career, while her unemployed husband spends much of his time caring for their daughter.

Into this unhappy household comes a creature resembling Bela's mother, repeatedly asking permission to enter her heart. It is an unsettling request precisely because it sounds so tender.

A child caught between distracted, troubled adults might welcome someone who appears to want her undivided attention.

There is plenty here to build a horror story around: loneliness, emotional neglect and the danger of mistaking another person's need for love. But the film keeps reaching for the next jump scare before those ideas have time to develop.

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PLENTY OF JOLTS, LITTLE DREAD

A sudden appearance can make an audience jump. Making us fear what might happen next requires more than repeatedly catching us off guard.

Here, the scares begin to feel like interruptions to a story that is already struggling to hold together.

We wait for a clearer sense of the entity's purpose, its origins or the logic behind its pursuit of Bela, but the film gives us too little to make its mystery satisfying.

A monster does not need a detailed biography. Coraline certainly did not require a lengthy explanation of the Beldam's existence to make her terrifying.

What mattered was understanding the lure, the bargain and the terrible cost of accepting it.

In 'Other Mommy', the repeated request to enter Bela's heart becomes more compelling than the story built around it.

The parents do little to help. Their weakness and snivelling responses become frustrating, while their troubled relationship never develops enough emotional weight to anchor the horror.

We can see why Bela might feel vulnerable, but we need to feel more deeply about what this family stands to lose.

Chastain's presence offers the promise of something disturbing, particularly when a familiar maternal face becomes a source of fear. Yet even that cannot give a thin plot the substance it needs.

By the end, I kept thinking of the creature that had frightened my niece all those years ago. The 'Other Mother' made affection feel dangerous because we understood both its appeal and its price.

'Other Mommy' has the makings of that kind of nightmare, but leaves us with little to carry home.

And as my niece told me at the end: "It's such a pointless movie, Amama!"

And I'm afraid she's right. That's the scary part.

elena@nst.com.my

NOW SHOWING

OTHER MOMMY

Directed by: Rob Savage

Starring: Jessica Chastain, Jay Duplass, Arabella Olivia Clark and Karen Allen