There’s nothing like a new horror thriller that touches on generational trauma passed down to their descendants and their biggest fears of becoming exactly like them.
In Sony’s upcoming horror thriller Umma — the Korean word for “mother,” Sandra Oh plays Amanda, a beekeeper living with her teenage daughter (Fivel Stewart) on a remote farm. From the looks from the trailer, they don’t really interact with many people outside of their little bubble — even refusing motorized vehicles from entering their property. That is until they’re visited by a stranger who brings Amanda the ashes of her dead mother from South Korea. He warns “her anger will grow as long as she remains in the box” and leaves.
Clearly shaken by her mother’s ashes and belongings, Amanda refuses to talk to her daughter about it. Instead, an angry and vengeful spirit begins to terrorize the family, which causes Amanda to bury her mother in the most disrespectful way — probably causing more problems. We begin to also see parallels in which Amanda is slowly becoming like her overbearing mother towards her own daughter.
Written and directed by Iris K. Shim, Umma looks like a terrifying tale based on Korean folklore (I spied a gumiho in the trailer) mixed with parental trauma. Amanda tells her daughter of her grandmother, “I remember so much screaming… I didn’t want you to know her.” This is going to be intense.
Umma also stars Dermot Mulroney, Odeya Rush, MeeWha Alana Lee, and Tom Yi.

Umma opens in theaters on March 18.
This looks so good!