Hokum (2026) Dir. Damian McCarthy

When the trailer dropped for Hokum, I was surprised to see Parks & Rec stalwart, Adam Scott, to be the lead in what seemed like a jump-scare-infused horror.

Admittedly, I’d seen nothing else from director Damian McCarthy, so I was excited to see what this folk/hotel room horror combination might look like.

Protagonist Ohm Bauman, played by Scott, is mourning the death of his parents, and tragically carries his mother’s photo with him. In the forest by a dreary hotel, Bauman scatters his mother’s ashes carefully, before maliciously tossing away his Dad’s.

Many years prior, his parents had stayed in the “Honeymoon suite”, which is said to be haunted. The reveal is hilariously done, as enigmatic owner of the hotel, Cob, played by Brendan Conroy, is telling two children a graphic story of an evil witch dragging some poor young souls to hell.

Alongside a creepy groundsman who seems to revel in murdering goats, to a homeless drug addict who wanders the forest and was rumoured to have killed his wife, and a bartender who piques Bauman’s interest, the set up to Hokum is tantalising. Without spoiling the film’s plot, the eeriness of the second act is unrivalled to any horror I’ve seen in recent years. Whilst stuck in the hotel, Bauman encounters witches, demons, and the unpredictable malice of some of the selfish characters he meets along the way.

The film never explicitly states what is real and what is fiction. By introducing the homeless wanderer, Jerry, played by David Wilmot, director McCarthy flirts with the concept that the surreal moments are hallucinogenic. This is introduced when Jerry offers Bauman a drink of milk, laced with wild magic mushrooms.

This theme can be interesting, especially in more mystical horrors. In Hokum, whilst Bauman battles his own twisted past, reality and absurdity seem to coalesce. As a viewer, I found myself terrified by the concept that anything could happen in the accursed Honeymoon suite.

As mentioned, the original tension of the hotel room is proper hide-behind-the-sofa stuff. Yes, there are jump scares, but they never feel unearned. The careful cinematography is something that James Wan or Scott Derrickson would be proud of. The use of lighting is especially impressive, most notably because of the modest $5 million budget.

However, like a lot of horror films, the plot falls apart in the third act. Too many storylines are attempted, with most of them failing to receive the attention they deserve. Certain dark imagery is alluded to, and then never fulfilled.  Most significantly, Bauman’s cursed childhood is plagued by the ghost of a cartoon he’d been watching in a traumatic moment. This cartoon is a terrifying rabbit-like creature, who appears several times in the film.

I was personally disappointed how this plotline was neglected in favour of some folk horror cliches. By the end, although there’s some interesting elements at play, the tension does not lead to the frantic and terrifying finale I’d hoped for. The cryptic choices aren’t necessarily a bad thing, but I would have liked to see Bauman’s psyche explored in more detail against the backdrop of the haunted hotel room.

However, Hokum is very much worth a watch, especially in the cinemas if you get the chance. Scott impresses in a different role than he’s used to, and the ensemble Irish cast all do a great job in ramping up the tension. By slightly refining the script, Hokum could have been something special. As is, it’s still a worthy popcorn horror to freak out some friends on a cold, dark night – ideally in a rural hotel!

★★★

3 / 5

Jacob Poole

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