‘Hokum’ Review

Following the critical success of 2024’s ‘Oddity’, Damian McCarthy established himself as a filmmaker to watch, at least in horror communities, with a particular brand of supernatural horror and a keen eye for jump scares. With ‘Hokum’, McCarthy finds himself working with his biggest star yet – Adam Scott – and delivers a delightfully spooky haunted house story.

Adam Scott is Ohm Bauman, a pretentious author of bleak horror novels who hates other people almost as much as he hates himself. While struggling through the end of his latest novel, Ohm finds an old photo of his deceased mother, looking happy once upon a time at a hotel in Ireland. Ohm travels to that very hotel, meeting with a cast of local characters ranging from quirky and harmless to threatening, including a mushroom chugging woodsman named Jerry (David Wilmot) and a friendly barkeep called Fiona (Florence Ordesh). As Ohm seeks to confront his own traumas, he learns of a legendary witch said to be locked away in the hotel’s bridal suite and when one of the many people he meets goes missing, he sets forth to find out for himself just how real the local superstitions truly are.

With ‘Oddity’ and its predecessor ‘Caveat’, McCarthy has built a well earned reputation as a master of the jump scare, a skill that is wielded confidently here as well, even if few of the individual scares match the creative ingenuity of those previous films. McCarthy maintains a spooky campfire story atmosphere throughout, layering in opportunities for frights in every scene, with shadows bracketing Adam Scott such that even when we know a jump is going to come, we’re left to guess as to where it will come from.

As Ohm, Adam Scott is cruel and self-satisfied as he chooses to hide his depression with snark and disdain. From the moment he arrives at the quaint Irish hotel, he treats all of the locals with scathing condescension, belittling their traditions and beliefs even as he experiences the hauntings for himself. If anything, Ohm is introduced as too unlikable, such that it takes awhile to get on his side as the hauntings escalate in the beautifully decorated hotel. The production design is lovely throughout, with so much creepy bric-a-brac jammed into every scene, heightening the dark fairy tale mood.

While the film handles its part haunted house, part Irish folk horror story with deft clarity, I was left wanting more given all of the wonderful place setting. There are so many potential avenues left unexplored – quirky locals with depths of beliefs, a hotel Halloween party, a fairy tale told by an old man to a pair of children – that the main plot is almost disappointingly straightforward, happening over the course of only two days. Damian McCarthy deserves credit for establishing such fascinating nooks and crannies, but deserves equal discredit for not exploring these nooks more sufficiently.

‘Hokum’ is a deceptively simple folk horror, with effective scares of all sorts, perfect for its campfire story atmosphere and eerie production design. While it doesn’t break any new ground for its director, it has plenty of Irish charm and thrills to delight horror fans of all stripes.

Hokum
Rated R for some violent/disturbing content and language.
Running Time: 1 hour and 47 minutes

Director Damian McCarthy
Writers Damian McCarthy
Stars Adam Scott, Peter Coonan, David Wilmot, Florence Ordesh, Michael Patric, Will O’Connell, Brendan Conroy, Austin Amelio
Rating R
Running Time 107 Minutes
Genres Horror