Shudder Saturday: Other (2025)

The last time I watched a horror movie written and directed by David Moreau it was the very surprising and excellent MadS. I had forgotten that he did that though, and was drawn to watch Other because of the lead role for Olga Kurylenko. That may have been a mistake.

Kurylenko plays Alice, a woman who has to head back to check things are in order after the death of her mother. Exploring her childhood home, she soon finds out that there's maybe something a bit wrong about the place. While revisiting a number of memories, Alice starts to process parts of her past that her mind once refused to accept.

Not only is Other bad, it's irritating. Moreau, "helped" in the dialogue department by Jon Goldman, seems to think that he's delivering a wonderful puzzle box to viewers. It's actually just an ugly paperweight, making use of familiar tropes and random inserted scare attempts until a final sequence that is quite laughable in how much Moreau seems to believe in it as a bit of a "gotcha" moment.

There are others in the cast, minor characters here and there, but it mainly rests on the slim shoulders of Kurylenko. As much as I often like her onscreen, she's not right for this role, often unable to give viewers a real insight into her character whenever she's not speaking to others about the situation. Part of the problem is due to the screenplay, admittedly, but someone stronger in the main role could have distracted viewers from some of that main weakness with a strong and mesmerising central performance.

I don't have anything good to say about this, although that's not to say that others may find something to like here. My opinion is affected by how much I disliked the film from the very earliest scenes, which meant that even potentially better moments in the second half didn't do enough to "move the needle" for me. It lost me from the start, and had no major moment that was able to ever regain my interest or goodwill.

If you're as tempted to watch this as I was then I implore you to watch almost any other David Moreau film instead. He can direct good movies. This just isn't one of them. As for Kurylenko, it's clear that she either needs strong enough material or a decent supporting cast to help her along.  She also generally does a bit better in action movies, which is maybe something I should keep in mind the next time I see her name used to promote any horror fare.

Pick any other movie to watch this weekend. Just don't pick Other. 

3/10

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