She Is Not Who She Seems. Producer James Wan and Director Rob Savage Weave a Brand New Nightmare in “Other Mommy”

Opens in PH cinemas October 7

Horror has been on a great run this 2026, with a whole new era of scares to thrill audiences. Producer James Wan is excited about the turn his beloved genre is taking, and he’s coming along for the ride. “We’re at a very exciting inflection point in the horror genre, but also in cinema in general,” Wan says. “With successes like Obsession and Backrooms you are seeing the next wave of filmmaking—and the next wave of filmmakers—who are making movies and telling stories that are connecting to a whole new generation. I am so excited about where we are going because horror is such a great commentary on societal fears and societal anxieties that we can do a lot of fun things that most other genres cannot.” 

In comes Other Mommy, an adaptation of Josh Malerman’s best-selling horror novel, Incidents Around the House. The film revolves around a young girl, Bela (Arabella Olivia Clark), who befriends a sinister entity who is capable of looking like Bela’s mother, (Jessica Chastain).

Wan was inspired to push for this story because of the dynamic between the demonic presence and the child they’re trying to prey upon. . “I was interested in the concept of an entity that mimics someone and uses that ability to get into a child’s heart, get into her mindset, and take over,” Wan says. “I thought it was an interesting way to portray what a demonic presence wants by appealing to a child’s innermost love, innocence and emotion. 

Watch the first trailer of Other Mommy:

Director Rob Savage was excited to dig deep into the material and lock in on its dark concept. “It was non-negotiable for me to preserve the darkness, contradictions, and emotional complexity of the novel,” Savage says. “I did not want to make a softened or sanitized version of this story. When I first came in with my take, I wanted to make sure we were really making the book, and Blumhouse Atomic Monster were completely aligned with that.” 

He’s also excited to shape the Other Mommy entity into a horror movie monster, “something in the tradition of Freddy Krueger or Michael Myers, and there are not many of those in modern horror cinema.” he says.”

He wanted to have the audience experience the same fears and emotions Bela goes through in the film. ““Whenever she appears, or whenever her presence is felt, you learn something new about what she can do, how she can manipulate Bela, and how she can manipulate the audience,” Savage says. “The goal was to make sure viewers never felt they had seen the entirety of her.”

The nature of this entity gave Wan and Savage a lot of ideas on how to transform it for the big screen. “The sweetness of Other Mommy is almost too sweet, but underneath it, you feel something coiled and furious,” Savage says. “As she becomes more monstrous, that control starts to slip and the thing underneath begins to come through.”

Other Mommy haunts Philippine theaters on October 7. Follow Universal Pictures PH (FB), UniversalPicturesPH (IG), and UniversalPicsPH (TikTok) for the latest news and updates.