Other Mommy Horror Film Disappoints After Viral Trailer
A new horror film starring Jessica Chastain fails to live up to its intense marketing campaign, while an immersive digital swamp installation opens at New York's Museum of Modern Art.
Two distinct cultural events emerge this week. The horror film 'Other Mommy,' starring Jessica Chastain, arrives in cinemas following a massive viral trailer campaign. Meanwhile, the Museum of Modern Art in New York prepares to open 'Wetland,' a large-scale digital installation by artist Jakob Kudsk Steensen that simulates a swamp ecosystem.
Other Mommy Film Review
Universal's horror film 'Other Mommy,' starring Jessica Chastain, opened in cinemas after a marketing campaign that saw its trailer viewed over 30 million times online. The film is predicted to earn over $20 million in its opening weekend despite a studio strategy of withholding it from critics until its release date. Based on Josh Malerman's novel 'Incidents Around the House,' the film follows a demonic double of a working mother named Ursula, played by Chastain, who attempts to befriend the woman's young daughter, Bela, to become human.
Director Rob Savage, known for the Zoom horror film 'Host,' has emphasized the movie's reliance on jump scares, claiming of approximately fifty such moments. Jessica Chastain's performance is noted for its elegant iciness, effectively portraying both the strained real mother and the manipulative monster. However, the film's rules feel scrambled, with the demonic Other Mommy alternating between subtle, unsettling blips and full-on body horror for seemingly no reason other than to frighten the audience. The narrative often feels like a series of loosely connected set pieces rather than a cohesive story, a problem Chastain has previously encountered in the 'It' film series.
The film's finale opts for large-scale, house-rattling visual effects reminiscent of 'Poltergeist,' lightening the novel's originally bleaker ending. Critics suggest a quieter, more psychological version of the story, focusing on the child's internal conflict between the love she wants and the love she needs, would have been more effective. Savage's studio horror outings, including this and a previous Stephen King adaptation, are seen as technically proficient but lacking a distinct directorial voice, risking his reputation as a director for hire rather than an auteur.
Wetland Digital Installation
Danish artist Jakob Kudsk Steensen's immersive digital installation 'Wetland' opens at the Museum of Modern Art in New York on October 12. The single artwork, titled Berl-Berl, uses video game software and macro photogrammetry to create a wall-spanning simulation of a swamp ecosystem, complete with altered field recordings and human vocals from musician Arca. The artist describes the MoMA version as being 'made to envelop you' with a sense of dance, where elements appear, vanish, and shift in brightness.
The work was inspired by the swamps surrounding Berlin, which Kudsk Steensen studied in collaboration with that city's natural history museum. His research involved photography, sound recording, kayaking, and archival work, examining humanity's relationship with wetlands. The installation, which debuted at Berlin's Berghain nightclub in 2021, incorporates elements of folklore, such as the Slavic three-headed god Triglav, who appears as a giant tree in the MoMA presentation. The artist notes that in European history, songs were often used as a way to map and handle ever-changing swamp landscapes.
Each iteration of Berl-Berl, which has been shown in Denmark, South Korea, and Switzerland, evolves and changes. The installation creates a sensory disconnect from urban life, offering a portal to the natural landscapes that predated cities like New York. By combining new technology with natural imagery and folklore, Steensen's work invites contemplation on lost ecosystems and ancient methods of understanding the environment.
