Umma - Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

Umma



Movie:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score:


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Movie
It’s been a while since we’ve seen a good horror movie, but sadly you’ll have to wait a bit longer still. I had high hopes for Umma based upon the trailer, AND due to the fact that it had Sandra Oh as the lead star. That being said, I still had my niggling doubts based upon the fact that director/writer Iris K. Shim hasn’t directed a single feature film (a couple of documentaries and a short are all her career seems to have spanned), AND the fact that outside of Sandra Oh and Dermot Mulroney, the film was devoid of any known actors (outside of DTV stuff). Well, sadly my fears came true as Umma is a banal and bland psychological “horror” movie that stays firmly in the PG-13 realm (usually a death knell for horror films).

The story revolves around Amanda (Sandra Oh) and her daughter Chris (Fivel Stewart) living out in the sticks raising bees for a living. Their life is completely devoid of any electricity (Amanda swears it makes her sick) and there are huge flashback hints from Amanda’s point of view of a traumatic childhood. Already sure on the path for where this film takes us, we find out that Chris and Amanda are pretty much shut ins with Amanda pretty much turning into her own mother in terms of controlling out of fear.

Things change when Amanda receives a visitor in the form of her uncle (Tom Yi) announcing that her mother had died a few months back. Emotions and fears rush to the surface as all of her childhood horrors came to the surface, and soon the presence of her Umma (mother in Korean) start to bleed into their life. Bit by bit, piece by piece, Amanda is drawn into a web of psychological (and possibly supernatural) terror as she has to fight the demons of her childhood, and attempt not to become the same bitter and vindictive monster her Umma once was.

Umma tries to straddle the line between psychological thriller and supernatural horror, never really letting the audience TRULY know how much of the “supernatural” elements were all in Amanda’s psychologically damaged mind, and how much of it was TRULY supernatural. Unfortunately the movie doesn’t really give you much to go off of either, instead teasing the audience with “that MIGHT BE something scary” elements, and blending it with a banal and bland script that just goes nowhere fast. On one hand it’s kind of neat to blur the lines between reality and fantasy, keeping the audience guessing, but to do so you actually need a story that’s remotely interesting. Umma retells your average childhood trauma flick with Korean ghost stories, and in doing so can’t even make something close to interesting out of it. The first 30 minutes had some potential setting up the return of Amanda’s Umma, but it’s completely squandered by a cliched script and an ending that wraps everything up nice and neat in a 10 minute period with only one single scene of any importance (that ending conflict between Amanda and Umma).




Rating:

Rated PG for thematic content, violence, language and brief suggestive material




Video:

Umma’s color schemes and various aesthetics don’t exactly lend itself towards eye candy, but the encode is primarily rather well done. Colors are bright and burnished in outdoor shots, with a rather hefty white level boost when out and about during the daytime. Indoor and night shots (which are a good 60% of the movie or more) lean towards that heavy blue and gray tinge. This means we’ve got banding in nighttime sky shots, and some weird artifacting in the dark that looks like a screen door effect (the scene right after Chris is screaming to get out of the cellar and they focus on Amanda’s face is a big one to notice that, as well as the underground scene between Amanda and Umma). Fine details are generally well done too, with only a few instances of overt softness to draw away from a solidly detailed film. Good, not great, but well done except for those above mentioned quirks.







Audio:

The 5.1 DTS-HD MA track (there’s actually 3 different DTS-HD MA lossless tracks on the disc) is quite a lovely surround mix, and very gratifying as a horror fan. This is not a massive jump scare flick, but more of an immersive and intimate horror that relies on soft music, and good surround presence to be effective. There are moments where the bass slams you in the chest with a horrific moment (usually brief and instantaneous), but the overall mix is very detailed with the sound of buzzing bees, whispering branches, and creaking stairs shifting all around the sound stage. Dialog is crisp and clean as can be, and evenly balanced with the rest of the track. Outside of a little more bass, there is very little I can think of to improve the mix.












Extras:

• Previews

Final Score: ​

Umma is bland and derivative, and honestly isn’t a great movie at all. It’s not horrible either, but falls into the worst of all the film categories. That of a film that is so in the middle that you forget about it not 10 minutes after you’re done watching. The cast does a decent job with what they’re given, but you can tell that pretty much everyone in the film is bored out of their mind and waiting for the “cut!” line. Sandra Oh isn’t half bad as the psychologically damaged Amanda, and she tries her best, but like I said, not much to go on. The Blu-ray itself is a solid, with decent video and good audio, but this still can’t overcome a very bland and boring story. Skip It.


Technical Specifications:

Starring: Sandra Oh, Fivel Stewart, Dermot Mulroney, Odeya Rush, MeeWha Alana Le, Tom Yi
Directed by: Iris K. Shim
Written by: Iris K. Shim
Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1 AVC
Audio: English: DTS-HD MA 5.1, French, Portuguese DTS-HD MA 5.1, Spanish, Thai DD 5.1, English DVS
Subtitles: English SDH, French, Portuguese, Spanish, Indonesian, Korean, Mandarin (Traditional), Thai
Studio: Sony
Rated: PG-13
Runtime: 84 minutes
Blu-Ray Release Date: May 24th, 2022

Recommendation: Skip It.

 

[Asere]

Too bad it isn't good. I saw it is available on Prime Video. I may check it out one day. Thanks for the review.

 

[Asere]

Saw it last night and while I wanted more out of it it let me down. Nothing got done it was the same haunting atmosphere over and over. Thanks for the review.