Other (2025) by David Moreau

Director: David Moreau

Year: 2025

Country: France/Belgium

Alternate Titles: N/A

Genre: Psychological

Plot:

After her mother’s death, a woman and her husband decide to move back to their childhood home to help put the affairs in order and move on with her life, but when complications keep her there, she comes to believe that someone or something is in the house coming after her.

Review:

Overall, this was a fairly decent genre entry. Among the better elements present here is the film’s sense of tension and dread that emerges to keep this one slightly unhinged as it goes along. The idea of being alone in the house and unaware of what's going on, from the purpose of the constant surveillance system and monitoring alarms around the house to the general layout of the house not offering any kind of familiarity or comfort, although she lived there previously, the general vibe of this one is undoubtedly one of tension and suspense. As she stays there and starts exploring everything that the house holds for her, including the series of different parts about her past that are explored, it all comes together in a wholly impressive and horrifying finale, where everything comes together in a frantic, terrifying encounter that gets quite a lot to like about it. It’s incredibly exciting and intriguing to know how it comes together, involving the different elements brought about from her background.

Outside of that, there are some issues here with keeping this one going, as it falls into a fairly pedestrian and one-note appearance without much deviation. This spends countless minutes focusing on her rummaging around the house, looking through left-behind memories, a scattered collection of trinkets about how her mother treated her, and encountering the creepy surveillance methods around the woods. However, none of them are developed to the point where they mean anything and only serve to enhance the tension of her being in the house, and quickly fall into a pattern of repetition that grows tiresome as it goes along without offering anything else to the story. The other factor here is an annoyingly obvious and useless tactic that goes on here, where it specifically removes focus on faces or facial features for everyone except for the lead, and it never brings about any kind of purpose or point other than just being a cool tidbit for the film. For the most part, these are what manage to bring it down.

Overview: ***/5

A strong and generally enjoyable if flawed genre effort, there’s plenty to enjoy with this one while being let down just enough by its flaws to be noteworthy in terms of what it’s trying to do. Those with an appreciation for the subject matter on display, who don’t mind the issues present, or who are fans of the creative crew, will have a lot to like, while most others should heed caution.