Other Mommy Ending Explained

Published Oct 9, 2026, 12:36 PM EDT Josh is a film critic and journalist with over nine years of experience in the entertainment industry. Entering the field at just 17 years old, Josh went on to make his own website, The HoloFiles, and social media brand Star Wars Holocron, the most followed Star Wars fan account on Twitter/X. A member of both the Chicago Indie Critics and the Hollywood Critics Alliance, Josh has covered major industry events including Star Wars Celebration and, most recently, CinemaCon for ScreenRant. His work has appeared in outlets such as Game Rant and Comic Book Resources (CBR), and he has been featured in publications including the BBC and The New York Times. Warning: This post contains major spoilers for the film Other Mommy. Horror is one of the most popular genres in film and television at any point in the year, but the presence of Halloween at the end of the month makes October the unofficial time for horror. Each year, there are at least a few major studio horror films to be released — in years past, titles like It (and its sequel, It: Chapter Two), The Conjuring: Last Rites, and more have all released in and around the Halloween season. This October is no different, with Universal releasing Other Mommy, starring Jessica Chastain. Universal are no strangers to horror, with the studio diving into the genre early on in Hollywood’s history with a series of monster movies (which have subsequently been dubbed Universal Classic Monster films). The studio which once created Bela Lugosi’s Dracula and Boris Karloff’s Frankenstein’s Monster has since branched out greatly, telling all sorts of new horror stories, with Other Mommy existing as the latest in a long line of spooky films from Universal. Other Mommy, which was produced by James Wan (the director of the first two Conjuring movies), follows a young girl named Bela as she is tormented by a demon that seeks to become a living being by taking over her body. The demon attempts to convince the girl to give over her body and acts like a friend in order to trick Bela. Not only that, but the demon disguises itself as Bela’s own mom, meaning that Jessica Chastain plays not only one of the protagonists, but the main antagonist as well. Other Mommy is unique from other horror films in that it lacks build-up in its story; instead, the film kicks off with the family realizing that something is terribly wrong right from the very first scene. That leads to a film full of chase sequences and near-misses as the family tries to escape from the demon, all of which leads up to a nail-biting finale. Jeff and Ursula’s Relationship, Explained A huge part of Other Mommy is the relationship between Jeff and Ursula. The two are the parents of Bela, and both show her great amounts of affection throughout the film. Their love for their daughter is heartwarming, yet the relationship between Jeff and Ursula is, unfortunately, not quite as wholesome. Audiences will likely feel some tension between Jeff and Ursula almost right away when the two speak with one another in the first scene. That feeling that things may not be entirely healthy in the relationship between the duo is proven to be more and more correct as the film goes on. Bela seems to suspect that things aren’t quite right, either. She questions where her mom has been going all day and wonders why she’s leaving her alone with her dad. Bela even makes a comment that her mom smells like someone else, and Jeff doesn’t seem surprised by this at all. The reason why Bela makes this comment about her mom’s smell, and why her dad isn’t at all shocked by this reveal, is because of the presence of Uncle Frank. The character, played by Arian Moayed (an MCU alum, having appeared in Wonder Man and Spider-Man: No Way Home), is described as a long-time friend of Jeff’s; however, things have clearly gotten much more complicated in recent years. Later on in the film, Bela tells her dad that she knows that her mom was in love with Uncle Frank. Jeff explains that, sometimes, adults can fall in love with other people even when they aren’t supposed to. Overall, this exchange encapsulates Jeff and Ursula’s relationship well — the two care greatly for one another, even if Ursula had a relationship with Frank, and Jeff goes to great lengths to preserve the image of Ursula that Bela has in her mind. Bela’s Lineage — Who Is Her Real Father? The relationship between Bela’s parents is complicated, and the young girl’s lineage only adds to this. For the majority of Other Mommy, the audience are made to feel as if Jeff and Ursula are holding back from revealing an important detail from their daughter. At first, it seems that this detail might be the affair with Uncle Frank, but after the latter’s death, it becomes clear that there’s something even bigger that’s bubbling underneath the surface. As the demon gets closer and closer to taking the life of their daughter, Jeff and Ursula decide to tell Bela the truth. Ursula reveals that she was married to another man when she met Jeff, and that the two began a secret relationship shortly after. Ursula then discovered she was pregnant, but the baby was not Jeff’s. Instead, the father is the other man, Ursula’s ex-husband (who goes unnamed, and no further details are revealed about him). What Are The Origins Of The Demon, And Why Is It Focused On Bela? There’s clearly a lot of family drama going on in Bela’s home, but that often takes the back seat to a much bigger threat — the demon who Bela names “Other Mommy.” The film opens with a quote which states that humans have one thing that demons covet more than anything else — being alive. That simple quote sets up the rest of the movie, and it explains why Other Mommy is plaguing this family. Other Mommy is a demon that has existed (likely for centuries), but isn’t actually alive. It craves what humans have, living in the real world and in a normal body. Because of this, the demon is fixated on getting Bela to let it into her heart, as doing so would effectively mean the death of the young girl and would allow the demon to take over. Other Mommy’s methods of achieving this goal are essentially equivalent to grooming. She works nightly to get Bela to trust her, convincing the young girl that the two are friends. From there, the demon proposes that Bela let it into her heart so that it can protect her from the growing tension that she feels inside her home. How Does Bela Defeat The Demon? Bela eventually defeats the demon by tackling her complicated feelings in her home life. For the majority of the film, Other Mommy is actively preying upon Bela’s sadness over her family. She senses that there’s something they aren’t telling her, something that is even bigger than the affair with Uncle Frank (which, as she reveals to Jeff, she already knew about). The key to defeating the demon, then, isn’t by reading a complex prayer or showing faith in God, as is the case with many films that have demons as the main villains (including The Conjuring franchise). Instead, Bela is forced to confront her anger and sadness that comes with her family being fractured, and it’s through acceptance of the situation and determination to make things better that she’s finally able to push out the demon for good. Other Mommy is in theaters now. Release Date October 9, 2026 Runtime 93 Minutes Director Rob Savage Writers Josh Malerman, Nathan Elston Producers James Wan Cast Arabella Olivia Clark Bela Eight-year-old Bela forms a disturbing relationship with a sinister entity living inside her home, one that looks uncannily like her own mother.