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Umma

2022

Iris K. Shim

Sandra Oh, Dermot Mulroney, Odeya Rush, Fivel Stewart ...

3.8

386

Horror Amanda and her daughter living a quiet life on an American farm, but when the remains of her estranged mother arrive from Korea, Amanda becomes haunted by the fear of turning into her own mother.

	Author	Review
United States	Andrew Barker Variety	"It never manages to thread the needle between its horror setpieces and the more serious themes of generational trauma lying beneath."	NEG
United States	Laura Sirikul IGN	"It’s overstuffed with symbolic imagery that is never fully explained. Though Oh and Stewart give solid performances, the tone and tension of the story ends up being choppy and underwhelming."	NEU
United States	Frank Scheck The Hollywood Reporter	"[It] proves the sort of minor chiller best experienced on late-night cable (...) Oh tries, but the movie's mediocre."	NEG
United States	Therese Lacson Collider	"A solid entry for Shim's debut with a strong story and standout leading performance from Oh. It examines generational trauma, identity, and what it means to confront your past, and it does so effectively."	POS
United States	Kate Erbland IndieWire	"[Some] stuff is genuinely frightening (Shim is skilled at capturing unnerving shots and holding close until it nearly hurts), but plenty of it is sort of silly."	NEU
United States	Meagan Navarro Bloody Disgusting	"The ideas and core takeaways are easy to grasp, but the execution falls flat (...) It results in a sparse story with great ideas but not much else (…) Rating: ★★ (out of 5)"	NEG
United States	Tracy Brown Los Angeles Times	"[It] shows that horror remains an effective space to engage with heftier topics (...) What I appreciate most with 'Umma' is that understanding and forgiveness are not idealized."	POS
United States	Fran Hoepfner The Wrap	"Modern horror gets flak for leaning too far into grief and trauma as a justification for its scares, and 'Umma' leans a little too hard on both of these without going particularly deep."	NEU
United States	Scott Mendelson Forbes	"[It] has so little to offer beyond the 'Hey, it’s about trauma!' messaging that it almost plays like a self-satire."	NEG

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