While currently riding high as the director of Doctor Strange In the Multiverse of Madness, Sam Raimi keeps active in other ways. Raimi functions as producer for a new horror flick, 2022’s Umma.

After she moves to the US from Korea, Amanda (Sandra Oh) operates a farm, with bee-keeping her specialty. She homeschools teen daughter Chris (Fivel Stewart) and leads a simple rural life.

Matters take a shift when her uncle (Tom Yi) visits and brings the ashes of Amanda’s late mother. This stirs up conflicts that may veer into the supernatural realm.

As I went into Umma, I held out some moderately high hopes that it might offer something more interesting than the average horror flick. It comes with some interesting possibilities, and the combination of Raimi and the consistently good Oh buoyed expectations.

Oh does manage to produce a quality performance as our lead. She allows for Amanda to develop in a subtle manner that shows her dark transformation without any push toward overwrought tendencies.

Otherwise, however, Umma fails to separate from the pack in a positive way. Despite themes that could lead toward a dark psychological journey, the movie usually embraces the obvious.

In this genre’s case, that means plenty of telegraphed scares. The score works overtime to bring attempted chills to the viewer, and this feels heavy-handed and self-defeating.

The music beats us over the head with the filmmakers’ desire to scare us and it backfires. Because the score feels so desperate, the possible creepy moments perversely lose impact.

Like so many other modern horror flicks, Umma also finds little to give us beyond “jolt moments”. Jump scares are a blight on the genre, and they seem especially out of place here.

A well-made Umma would keep us in suspense as Amanda slowly undergoes mental degeneration. It would create an impact via basic psychological undercurrents.

Instead, Umma takes the easy way out and keeps matters superficial. We don’t get a great feel for the characters and the film substitutes easy “boo scenes” for deeper terror.

At a mere 83 minutes, at least Umma doesn’t wear out its welcome. Nonetheless, the movie undercuts its positives and becomes a collection of creepy moments in search of a story.

Umma appears in an aspect ratio of approximately 2.39:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. This was a consistently terrific presentation.

Sharpness was tight and concise, with virtually no softness on display. This meant a well-defined image at all times.

Jagged edges and shimmering failed to appear, and no artifacts or edge haloes marred the presentation. The movie suffered from no print flaws either.

Colors were positive. The palette emphasized orange/amber and teal tones, and those came across in appropriate fashion.

Blacks looked deep and full, while low-light shots offered nice clarity. Really, everything about the image succeeded.

Expect a pretty standard “horror mix” from the film’s DTS-HD MA 5.1 soundtrack. Much of the movie went with creepy atmosphere and the occasional jolt effect.

These elements cropped up from the side and rear speakers in a satisfying manner, as they were well-placed and gave the movie the requisite scare moments.

Thunder seemed realistic enough to frighten my dog, and given that she’s watched thousands of movies by my side over the last 11 years without much reaction, that’s a high compliment. Music also boasted good stereo presence and contributed to the expected scary bits as well.

Audio quality excelled. Speech was always distinctive and concise, without edginess or other issues, and music seemed fine, with score that was bright and bold.

Effects were terrific. They sounded accurate and dynamic, with strong bass response – enough to spook my dog, as mentioned. This track didn’t reinvent the horror wheel, but it more than satisfied.

The disc opens with ads for Morbius, Don’t Breathe 2, Father Stu, Uncharted and Spider-Man: No Way Home. No trailer for Umma - or any other extras – appear on the disc.

Though it comes with creepy potential, Umma squanders its positives. The movie suffers from too many cheap scares and it never delivers the psychological horror tale it aspires to bring. The Blu-ray offers strong picture and audio but it lacks supplements. The film disappoints.