Umma ending explained: How are Amanda and Chris saved from Umma’s spirit? (spoilers)

Umma starring Sandra Oh is now available to stream on Netflix, and this is a horror flick you definitely don’t want to miss. I mean, Sandra Oh in a horror film? Sign me up, please!

Umma is a supernatural horror film written and directed by Iris K. Shim. Sam Raimi produced the movie under his Raimi Productions banner, along with Stage 6 Films and Starlight Media. Besides Oh, the amazingly talented cast includes Fivel Stewart, Dermot Mulroney, Odeya Rush, MeeWha Alana Lee, and Tom Yi.

The story follows a single mother named Amanda (Sandra Oh) and her daughter Chris (Fivel Stewart), who lives a quiet life on an isolated, rural farm. But one day, Amanda’s uncle shows up on the farm with Amanda’s estranged mother’s remains from Korea. With her mother’s cremated ashes in her possession, Amanda becomes haunted by her mother’s ghost and fears she’ll turn into her.

If you’ve watched Umma in its entirety and need an explainer or are just curious about how everything wraps up, you’ve landed at the right place. We gave a breakdown of the ending right below.

SPOILER WARNING: Major spoilers from Umma below!

Umma ending

Amanda finally buries her mother’s ashes after her spirit had haunted her for days, but she doesn’t give her the proper, traditional burial as she wanted. Instead, Amanda throws the urn containing her mother’s ashes in a hole along with a picture and starts shoveling dirt over the hole. Of course, this angers her mother’s spirit, and she retaliates by possessing her.

Later, Chris returns home to find Amanda’s mother’s urn and picture sitting on a table and childhood photos of Amanda and her mom on the walls. She hears Amanda humming and finds her sitting outside dressed in a hanbok. Chris is freaked out by Amanda’s weird behavior but listens to her when she tells her that it’s time to pay their respects by doing a jesa.

As Amanda sets up the ceremony, she informs Chris of what a jesa is. Chris doesn’t understand why they’re doing a jesa since they don’t believe in it. Then, Amanda tries to force Chris to participate in the ceremony but Chris refuses. Remember, Amanda is possessed by her mother’s spirit, but Chris doesn’t know at this point in the film. As Amanda’s mother speaks through Amanda to Chris, she explains how she used to torture Amanda when she would disobey. This is when Chris realizes that Amanda is possessed. Amanda’s mother walks toward Chris with a lamp to try to hurt her, but Chris pushes her and escapes.

While running away, Chris sees a bloody feather on the ground. She picks it up and looks around to see a kumiho fox eating a chicken. This scares her even more and she continues running. Amanda’s mother catches up to her and attacks. As Amanda’s mother tries to hurt Chris, Chris tries to get through to her mom. It seems to be working, but not completely. It takes Chris knocking off the mask on Amanda’s face for Amanda to escape her mother’s grip and return to her body.

How are Amanda and Chris saved from Umma?

As Amanda and Chris are about to leave, Amanda is pulled to her mother’s burial hole, where she confronts her mom on a spiritual plane. Amanda forgives her mother for abusing her and tells her that she understands how hard it was to live in a foreign country where she didn’t know the language and had difficulty adjusting. But Amanda also explains to her mother that it didn’t give her the right to harm her and force her to stay at home.

After discussing past trauma, Amanda and her mother reach some form of reconciliation. Amanda tells her mother that she will give her a proper jesa, but she has to leave for good. Amanda’s mother seemingly accepts the terms and disappears. Then, Amanda is finally able to crawl to the surface.

The next morning, Amanda and Chris give Amanda’s mother a proper burial. Then, Chris’s phone rings, signaling she’s got a text. She tells Amanda that “he’s on his way.” Who is Chris talking about?

Does Chris go to college in Umma?

Yes! The text Chris received was from Danny. He was telling her he was on his way to pick her up to take her to her college. Once Chris received the text, she and Amanda went back into the house to finish packing. Then, they headed outside and loaded all of Chris’s belongings onto Danny’s truck. Amanda and Chris embrace before Chris hops in Danny’s truck and they hit the road.

The film’s last shot shows Amanda’s mother’s burial site with someone in a hanbok off to the side, watching Chris leave. The mystery person is most likely Umma, Amanda’s mother.

Did Umma’s spirit actually leave?

It’s unclear. After Amanda made a deal with Umma on a spiritual plane, it seemed like Umma had agreed to the terms. However, we see her appear at the end of the film. So it looks like Umma didn’t actually leave, but she won’t be bothering Amanda anymore.

What did you think about Umma‘s ending? Let us know in the comment section below.