Let me be honest right away. “Incidents Around the House” did not work for me. I gave it three stars on Goodreads, and I even said I hope this is one of those rare times when the movie turns out better than the book. Well, we are about to find out! “Other Mommy,” the film adaptation, releases in US theatres on October 9, and I am more curious than ever.

A Good Start That Did Not Last

The book begins so well. We have an eight-year-old narrator, a closet, and a creature that looks exactly like her mother. Creepy? Definitely. For the first 35 percent, I was completely hooked, and I honestly thought Bela’s point of view would make every scare hit harder. But then the story slowly (or should I say quickly) rolled downhill. Everything became repetitive, and the fear I was waiting for never grew. I still wonder if my bar for horror is just too high, or if this is one more case of a thriller being overhyped. 

Let me start with the narration. Bela is supposed to be eight, but she sounds like a four-year-old to me. Meanwhile, the adults speak to her like she is their coworker, and some even go on existential rants that no real parent would give a child. Then there is “Daddo.” I understand it is how Bela speaks, but hearing it again and again gets annoying.

The adults are the bigger problem. Almost every one of them fails in some way, and the parents simply cannot handle their own child. It is hard to care about a family when you keep wanting to shake them. A lot of the middle is also spent on sleeping arrangements, meals, and arguments, which slowed the horror down. I did not find Other Mommy scary, and there were far fewer jump scares than I wanted.

Then comes the ending. The last 20 percent felt confusing in the worst way, with plot holes and choices that made no sense. It was also quite predictable after everything. The open ending just did not sit right with me. 

To be fair, it was not all bad. The descriptions of Other Mommy’s appearance genuinely gave me chills. I was also terrified by the idea that she is not tied to the house and can reach Bela anywhere, anytime. That is the kind of fear I wanted more of, and it is exactly the kind a film can capture.

Why The Movie Has A Chance

Horror on screen has tools that a book does not, like sound, lighting, and faces. Jessica Chastain plays both Ursula and the entity that takes her form, and I think this could be the film’s biggest strength. Instead of reading a description of a fake mommy, we get to see two versions of one person, and tiny differences can be far scarier than words.

A screenplay is also tighter than a novel, so the repetitive middle might simply disappear. Nathan Elston, who wrote for “Succession,” handles the script, and Rob Savage, who gave us “The Boogeyman” and “Host,” is known for building dread out of very little. Add James Wan as producer, and the team looks promising. The trailer explains the premise without giving away too much, which I always admire.

Of course, adaptations can fail too. The film might lose Bela’s child’s-eye view, which was the best part of the book’s opening. It might also stay loyal to the ending that left me cold. If that happens, no amount of budget will save it. Isn’t that how it usually goes with adaptations?

Final Words

So, can “Other Mommy” fix what the book didn’t? I think it can, but only if it understands what made the book’s opening so gripping in the first place. The idea of a mother’s face on something that is not your mother is terrifying, and the book stopped trusting that fear after the first third. 

A film does not have that problem. It can hold a shot a little too long, let the silence do the work, and let Jessica Chastain’s face say what Bela’s narration could not. I am not expecting a masterpiece, but I am walking in wanting to be scared, and honestly, that is all I ask for. Until then, I am keeping my expectations low, and my closet door firmly shut. 

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If you want to read the book before you watch the film, you can find “Incidents Around the House” on Amazon. Maybe you will enjoy it more than I did!

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