Vague Visages’ The Other review contains minor spoilers. Paul Etheredge’s 2025 movie on Amazon features Olivia Macklin, Dylan McTee and Avangeline Friedlander. Check out the VV home page for more film criticism, movie reviews and film essays.

There’s a discomfiting moment early in The Other when it seems as though the 2025 horror movie is about to reveal itself as an ill-advised metaphor for how milquetoast white people inherently feel terrified of POC. However, Paul Etheredge’s latest film is a creature feature through and through, and a gnarly, gross and wildly entertaining one at that. There’s some sharp social commentary hidden amongst all the gore, but the director showcases some truly impressive and practical special FX while also detailing just how tough it is to create a family from the ground up. Pregnancy remains a frustratingly untapped resource in the horror genre, but the latest offering from Etheredge, who burst onto the scene with the queer cult favorite Hellbent (2004), also demonstrates how discombobulating it is to be a committed parent in general. 

As The Other begins, happily married couple Robin (Olivia Macklin) and Daniel (Dylan McTee) take on a mute, eight-year-old Black girl named Kathelia ( Avangeline Friedlander in a phenomenal performance). Although eager to settle into their new routine, the new parents learn that that their child is a bit of a handful, as the youngster’s tragic past has rendered her unable, or perhaps unwilling, to communicate (the girl’s mother brutally murdered her entire family and then took her own life). As a result, Kathelia feels hesitant about trusting these well-meaning WASPs with their fancy, spotless modern home and eerily toothy grins. Daniel immediately fares better than his wife, because he’s a teacher and understands children better. Robin, on the other hand, tries too hard to force a relationship with Kathelia and quickly grows frustrated.

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After suffering four pregnancy losses, Robin’s desperation to be a mother is palpable. But she goes about connecting with Kathelia all wrong, including suggesting a name change to the more white-sounding Jessica, and giving her only traditional (i.e. creepy) dolls, which understandably leaves the youngster flummoxed. Robin even scolds her husband that they should’ve got “some dark dolls” in anticipation of their new charge’s arrival. Although Kathelia exhibits odd behavior, including hoarding weapons in her bed, Robin seems intent on believing the worst in her from the outset, while Daniel is more sensitive to what the kid has been through. As a result, he’s less willing to blame stuff on Kathelia, like all their food spoiling, mold spreading around the bathtub and pink goo forming on the surface of the pool.

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This creates an interesting push-pull dynamic between the two fledgling parents that powers Etheredge’s narrative, splitting Robin and Daniel up as the former character isolates herself from Kathelia while her husband tries to figure out how to help. Mothers tend to be villainized in these kinds of movies, because women are the ones who fall pregnant and go nuts, but The Other establishes early on that Robin is damaged in her own way and also fatally selfish. One devastating sequence involves the excited and expectant mother presenting a bloodied and dead fetus in a jar to her disbelieving OB-GYN, who kindly tries to explain that there’s no way Robin is still pregnant, even though she’s noticeably showing. It’s a sad acknowledgement of everybody who is unable to accept that what they want so badly is never going to happen, which is sure to tug at the heartstrings of anyone who has struggled to get pregnant. But naturally, since this is a horror movie, there’s something more sinister going on, and Robin isn’t completely wrong about continuing to feel something growing deep inside her belly.

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Etheredge does a terrific job keeping the horrors brewing under the surface for much of The Other’s 98-minute runtime, making it tough to predict where it’s going, even if you’ve watched similar stuff. There’s a ton of intrigue around the family pool, as the film notably features considerably more impactful water-based shenanigans than Bryce McGuire’s Night Swim (2024). The hugely impressive SFX extend to a gigantic membrane that beats like a heart and ebbs and flows with each ripple. On the exact opposite side of the spectrum, there’s a beautiful shot of Kathelia submerged in a bubble bath with only her head poking out. Likewise, she initially bonds with troubled friend Fiona (the terrific Lily D. Moore) by throwing her new dolls into the sewer. Again, though, water is just one part of the grander puzzle, with the writer-director commenting on everything from pregnancy to adoption to the lifelong struggle to do the right thing under increasingly difficult circumstances.

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Robin’s OB-GYN is a minor figure in The Other, but the way she seeks out her patient to ensure everything is all right at home (following a disturbing encounter at her office) speaks to Etheredge’s empathetic writing abilities. This becomes most clear via Daniel, whose staunch refusal to give up on his adopted daughter, even when she tries to run away or seems on the cusp of hurting someone, is incredibly heartwarming. Crucially, Etheredge doesn’t bend over backwards to establish that Kathelia’s new parents are out of their depth, even outside of the girl’s mysterious trauma. They throw a backyard party to make Kathelia feel more welcome, but the group is so white it’s a wonder that The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills’ Kyle Richards doesn’t manifest in the middle of it all. Even when Robin and Daniel offer their best, there’s still a massive part of Kathelia’s experience that they just can’t understand. The difference is that while one parent keeps trying, the other figures it’ll just be easier with a kid who’s actually theirs.

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McTee gives a lovely, open-hearted performance as the well-meaning Daniel, while Macklin, who has the harder job given everything Robin has to contend with over the course of the movie, both emotionally and physically, ensures that the wannabe mother’s eyes never fully glaze over into pure hatred. Even when she gets pushed to the brink, you can still sense that Robin wishes she could be better for Kathelia, as well as for herself. But The Other is undoubtedly Friedlander’s movie, as the young actress gives what is essentially a non-verbal performance. The kid communicates so much using just her eyes, frequently flitting from fear to shock to pure confusion in a matter of seconds. She’s The Other’s anchor — nothing works without her because if the audience doesn’t care what’s really happening with Kathelia, none of the more outlandish stuff that comes later in the story will land. As much as it’s clear that the movie is building to some kind of horrifying payoff, Kathelia’s journey is intriguing enough on its own.

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The Other is a massive technical achievement with some real heart, and Etheredge fortunately avoids bland metaphors about racism. Gross, gut-wrenching and with a gumption-filled heroine, it’s an insightful, incisive take on the kind of sacrifices required to be a present parent. Come for the disgusting nightmare creature that will inevitably crawl out of some poor character’s orifice, and stay for the sweet father-daughter bond between Daniel and Kathelia.

Joey Keogh (@JoeyLDG) is a writer from Dublin, Ireland with an unhealthy appetite for horror movies and Judge Judy. In stark contrast with every other Irish person ever, she’s straight edge. Hello to Jason Isaacs. Thank you for reading film criticism, movie reviews and film reviews at Vague Visages.

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