Umma

Umma

A reasonable jump scare horror movie, they held back on the horror when they should have gone all out so that's a shame, what it could have been!

Sandra Oh held our attention as did the daughter, the acting was good overall but it was all quite derivative and predictable.

This is a weak 6 outta 10 from me, meaning it whiled an evening away and was what it was!

It seems like the film's modus operandi was to make statements on childrearing. Specifically made for those parents who are overbearingly conservative about their children, so much so that they even refuse to listen to their kids' wishes, let alone lend an ear to what other people say.

As creators, they tried to put their message out in the open, an important one as well and to tell you the truth, I see nothing wrong in that. However, I also do believe that as a filmmaker you bear certain responsibilities, some obligations one of which is to stay loyal to the genre or the type of content you are making.

"Umma" was meant to be a Horror right? In any case that was the impression, I've got from the trailers! If you wanna have social commentary, and symbolic insinuations in your film that's fine but you got to stick to your promise first! At the end of the day, What do people expect from a Horror feature? All they want is to be terrified, to get the chills. So if that particular wish remains unattended, I don't see why should it be marketed as horror in the first place then!

Umma can be an interesting study of motherhood and generational trauma with a dash of a touch of folk horror. After a promising start, alas Iris K. Shim is unable to maintain the tension or the emotional aspect it's direly in need throughout the rest of the film. In the end, it presented a rather dull, if not bland, third act.

This ended up being a bland "horror" movie. My emphasis on horror is due to it not being what I consider horror but I watch a lot of horror and may be desensitized. For me, this was a pass the time movie.

What happened? The first half of the movie was so solid, interesting story, good acting, beautiful cinematography, great chemistry between the two leads, then the second the daughter came out of the basement and questioned her mother, the dialogue became very clunky and unnatural.

We were then confronted with some very unscary CGI and all the promise the film once held just fizzled away.

There was definitely a much better film in here somewhere. Such a shame.