Umma (2022) is a horror movie written and directed by Iris K. Shim. It deals with a single mother who is haunted by her mother’s ghost. Below is my short Umma (2022) movie review
The movie stars, among few others, Sandra Oh as Amanda and Fivel Stewert as Chrissy “Chris”. These two characters have an overall good relationship, but things start to fall apart as the story progresses. Unfortunately not much happens for the majority of the movie, unless you count the crack of mistrust as exciting. It’s not particularly exciting to watch but at least it is well acted.
The movie is overall about passing on generational trauma. This can be intentional or unintentional. However, this movie has a bunch of horror elements. This also means it has a lot of pointless jump scare moments that are as routine as they can get. These moments don’t help the story much as they don’t bring anything new to the table. This makes the movie very predictable and slow.There are not enough horror elements in between to keep one’s attention.
Visually there is nothing impressive about this movie. The scares, while few inbetween are not grand and the CGI is very limited. The face makeup could have been used for the dead person but CGI works as well. One can argue that the jump scares are not necessary for the story to progress. While horror elements can be used to enhance personal trauma, in this case it is not necessary. The personal drama in this movie is not manifested in the form of a monster, but rather a dead overbearing mother. The idea of somebody being with you and not letting you move on is a lot scarier if it is subtle.
By the end of the movie, the story fizzles out and turns into a bland wrap up. It boils down to a person standing tall and saying “you will not bother me anymore” to the supernatural entity. There is nothing bad, but it is not necessarily a fun ending. There is not much for fans to remember about the story. It makes it perfect for non-horror movie goers.
Thanks for reading my Umma (2022) movie review
