The Director of THE BOOGEYMAN Teams with Blumhouse for Chilling Adaptation of OTHER MOMMY
A major new horror project is on the way, and it brings together two powerhouses of the genre that includes one of the decade’s most exciting directors and the author behind one of the most viral horror sensations of recent years.
Universal Pictures has greenlit Other Mommy, a new film directed by Rob Savage (Host, The Boogeyman) and based on the novel Incidents Around the House by Bird Box author Josh Malerman.
The film comes from James Wan’s Atomic Monster and Jason Blum’s Blumhouse, a partnership that’s already reshaping the horror landscape, and now turn their sights to Malerman’s deeply unsettling tale.
Savage became a breakout name in 2020 with Host, the inventive, Zoom-based found-footage horror that captured the zeitgeist during the pandemic. The low-budget thriller earned rave reviews for its creativity and relentless tension.
His follow-up, The Boogeyman, adapted from a Stephen King short story, overcame mixed reviews to gross over $82 million worldwide, which was impressive considering it was originally headed for a Hulu release before strong test screenings pushed it to theaters.
With Other Mommy, Savage has the chance to recapture the intimate terror that made Host a hit, this time on a much bigger stage.
Deadline reports that eight-year-old Arabella Olivia Clark will play Bela, the story’s young protagonist. She joins Jessica Chastain, returning to horror after It Chapter Two and Crimson Peak, alongside Jay Duplass and Dichen Lachman (Severance).
Malerman’s novel is told entirely from Bela’s perspective, plunging audiences into a child’s terrifying reality. Her life unravels when an invisible entity she calls “Other Mommy” begins to haunt the family home. At first, the presence seems harmless, but soon its intentions turn sinister—centered around one deeply unsettling question: “Can I go inside your heart?”
What follows is a suffocating descent into paranoia and fear, as the safest place in Bela’s world becomes a battleground no one else can comprehend.
Malerman’s name has become synonymous with original, psychologically gripping horror. Bird Box became a phenomenon after Netflix adapted it into a Sandra Bullock-led hit. With Other Mommy, Malerman returns to themes of unseen terror and psychological dread, but through the eyes of a child, making this one of his most unsettling concepts yet.
Other Mommy opens in theaters May 8, 2026.