EXCLUSIVE: Karen Allen (Raiders of the Lost Ark) has signed on for a role in Other Mommy, Host helmer Rob Savage’s new supernatural horror film for Universal and Atomic Monster, based on the book Incidents Around the House by Bird Box‘s Josh Malerman.
Character details are under wraps. As previously announced, eight-year-old Arabella Olivia Clark leads the cast, which also includes Jessica Chastain, Jay Duplass, Dichen Lachman, Sean Kaufman and Adam Silver.
Other Mommy centers on eight-year-old Bela (Clark), who lives in a home strained by her parents’ troubled marriage, only to see her life further upended by a sinister entity she calls “Other Mommy.” When this malevolent presence emerges from her closet, persistently asking “Can I go inside your heart?”, Bela refuses. But soon, Other Mommy’s manifestations become increasingly aggressive, threatening the safety of Bela’s family.
The film is being produced for Universal by Atomic Monster/Blumhouse in association with Spin a Black Yarn. Succession’s Nathan Elston adapted the screenplay. James Wan is producing, with Michael Clear, Judson Scott, Macdara Kelleher, Savage, Malerman and Ryan Lewis exec producing. Alayna Glasthal is the executive overseeing the film for Atomic Monster.
The film falls under supernatural horror, one of the 24 thriving subgenres identified in a Blumhouse study conducted with Sage Outcomes, which surveyed over 2,000 horror fans and experts, as discussed at the company’s inaugural Business of Fear event.
Best known for her role of Marion Ravenwood in Raiders of the Lost Ark and later Indiana Jones films, Allen has starred in over 50 films, with such classics as The Sandlot and Scrooged with Bill Murray also on her resume. Most recently seen opposite William Sadler in the film A Stage of Twilight, she also recently completed roles in projects including Unsinksable, 50 States of Fright, Things Heard and Seen, and the soon-to-be-released Bad on Paper, about outlaw country singer Elizabeth Cook. She is repped by Authentic Talent & Literary Management and Peikoff Mahan.