Ohm Bauman is a writer who, ostensibly, has it all. Beautiful house, multi-million dollar movie adaptation deals, and all the praise and attention a novelist could get in one lifetime. Despite all this, he’s ended up a jaded and miserable drunken wretch of a man, and when he visits a hotel in rural Ireland to spread the ashes of his deceased parents, as well as try get out of a creative rut, he’s forced to face his demons alongside all the things that go bump in the night. The latest film from up-and-coming Irish horror director Damian McCarthy, Hokum is a creepy and tense folk horror tale, exploring creativity and how it can link with our emotional state, with an oddly sincere streak to it that makes up for some of its potential misgivings.
McCarthy’s third film, and his first not to be shot entirely in his native Ireland, marks his major distributor debut after previous films Caveat and Oddity received substantial praise and acclaim. You can tell that he took the opportunity and ran with it, making the most of the film’s more robust budget to craft his most ambitious and complex film yet. Even just describing the premise feels like a bit of an odd task, because the film shifts gears multiple times in its first half hour, before finally settling into a grove that’s both scary and easy to emotionally invest into. One thing’s for sure, though: McCarthy uses this newfound success to his advantage to swing big, and it mostly works. The first third, albeit a bit messy, gives way to a haunting and scary film, exploring the nature of creativity in an engaging manner.
Courtesy of Neon
Like mentioned previously, Hokum follows Ohm Bauman’s quest to rid himself of creative stagnation and cope with his traumas and demons. By revisiting the hotel where his parents stayed for their honeymoon, he’s hoping to deal with the baggage of his youth and inspire himself at the same time. Whilst this might seem to be yet another horror film about dealing with grief and trauma, it quickly cements itself as something different entirely, with twists and turns in the first half hour alone that combine elements of anthology films, folk horror, crime fiction and psychological horror, and that’s all before the film goes full haunted house in a genuinely brilliant second act that evokes the wildly underrated film 1408. There’s many other side characters populating this narrative, many with their own goals and stories, including many hotel staff and a homeless man who lives in the woods nearby. Hokum’s biggest strength is its playfulness, bouncing between these elements whilst never losing track of its main story, and being willing to get weird along the way.
The script, written by McCarthy, is good throughout. His dialogue is fun and witty, with a cynical and acerbic edge to much of it that will definitely appeal to those who might struggle to buy into the film’s more out-there elements. It never feels sarcastic for the sake of it, however, because it’s balanced out by a genuine undercurrent of emotional sincerity, where the mayhem pauses and the script lets things breathe, and it’s one of the film’s biggest strengths. If anything, there are too many ideas here, especially at first, and so the more the film hones in on a select few and lets them breathe, the better it gets. It’s really well paced too, making the most of its runtime and jam-packing in as much as possible, really earning every moment.
Courtesy of Neon
Like McCarthy’s previous two films, Hokum plays with Irish folklore and very much explores the subgenre of folk horror. Bauman, an American visiting rural Ireland with little to no understanding of the culture or folklore of it, has to learn the rules and understand what he’s dealing with if he wants to survive the horrific ordeal of the hotel that he gets put through. There’s all sorts of paganistic spirits, hauntings and witch stories going on here, and to those unfamiliar with Ireland’s rich folkloric history, it probably comes across as incredibly impenetrable, as the film never really stops to indulge in explanations about it, instead preferring to let the viewer’s interpretation decide, based on their understanding and knowledge. I love that, and I think it’s essential to any good folk horror story, for it’s a genre that relishes in the esoteric and strange, which often defy explanation in any rational sense. It’s one of the best films the subgenre has gotten in a while, basically since McCarthy’s last film, and fans of that specific aspect of the genre will love it.
On a technical level, the film is really impressive. Cinematographer Colm Hogan makes every inch of this film feel nauseatingly tense and uncomfortable, never letting the viewer feel safe or at ease at any time, with some truly phenomenal jumpscare shots that really blew me away and genuinely got a yelp or two out of me. Editor Brian Phillip Davis and composer Joseph Bishara also add to this a lot, with a hypnotic editing pace and thrilling score that really allow the beautiful cinematography and direction to shine. Like mentioned previously, McCarthy makes the most of the higher budget, directing the hell out of this. Much has been made of how creepy the film’s trailers have been and I can promise you, huge stretches of the film itself are just as unnerving, playing with darkness and objects in the background in a thrilling and unsettling way throughout.
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The shining star of the film is Adam Scott, who gives a great performance here as the jaded curmudgeon Ohm Bauman. Taping into some of the dramatic chops that make his turn in Severance so compelling, he’s really killing it throughout, teeteering the delicate line between frustrating and wonderfully likeable, which allows the character’s emotional arc to really shine as he moves from one to the other. There are large stretches where it’s just him, a seemingly recurring theme in film this year, but unlike some of the other instances of 2026, he rises to the occasion and makes every moment watchable. Not only that, it’s probably the best section of the movie. It’s a great performance from him, and I’m happy to see him take on another dramatic project, displaying a ton of potential for further horror work in the future.
Another performance I’d love to give attention to is David Wilmot, who plays the homeless Jerry, living in a car outside the hotel. Much like Austin Abram’s breakout performance in last year’s Weapons, Wilmot is a highlight of the film, providing much needed comic relief and tapping us into the supernatural and mystical elements of the film as well. He’s really entertaining, and it’s nice to get a reprieve from the tension at times, even if ultimately we will always return to the cynicism of Scott’s character and his journey through the dark underbelly of the hotel. Wilmot is used sparingly and well throughout, and ended up quite impressing me.
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Florence Ordesh portrays Fiona, a hotel employee who quickly gets caught up in the horrific happenings in the hotel. Whilst she doesn’t necessarily get a ton of scenes in the movie, she does a great job with all of them, adding a likeable and charismatic foil to Scott that really works to bring out the best of his character. She acts the hell out of her later scenes, really throwing it all out there when she doesn’t have to, and I respect and appreciate the dedication. I have some issues with how her character is treated by the narrative, and some elements I think could’ve been handled better, but Ordesh does a great job in terms of her acting performance, helping to make it work.
Other supporting performances include Peter Coonan as the suspicious manager Mal, who chews through the scenery in a delightful wicked and fun performance. Sioux Carroll shines as one of the other more antagonistic roles, really making the most of her shines and perfectly adding to the tension of the film. Lastly, Will O’Connell is fun as the hotel’s wannabe writer bellboy, who’s constant tension with Bauman is entertaining throughout, as well as leading to one of the film’s most satisfying scenes in its explosive third act. Everyone’s good here, even if most of them are doing something slightly more campy than Scott’s central performance, and it’s nice to see a major horror release platform so many older, independent actors instead of filling the cast with celebrities.
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Thematically, the main idea of Hokum revolves around Bauman’s ailing creativity as he struggles to finish the last novel in a best-selling trilogy. He can’t think of a way to conclude the story that isn’t horrifically bleak, even for his standards, and it’s thrown him into a total burn out. The film explores the nature of telling stories, mostly forgoing narration and instead portraying stories as anthology-like extended visual sequences, and it’s a brilliant move that really gives the film an identity of its own. This of course also links to the nature of folklore, guided by thousands of years of oral history as stories are passed down through generation by generation. It also, albeit briefly, touches on television and reinterpreting stories when impacted by trauma that makes you mentally reshape how you percieve a piece of information. That’s all bubbling under the surface here, almost all explored in the film in a substantial way that left me very pleased. It never gives up the thrills for it, but never gives up the ideas for pure thrills either, and I think it’s such a fun and engaging way to explore this central theme, even if the ending could be seen as slightly too sentimental for those who got attached to Bauman’s cynical and acidic worldview.
Overall, Hokum is a great film, taut and tense and creepy throughout, with its genuine emotional undercurrent helping forgive some of it’s initially messy setup towards the start of the film. With a basically perfect second act and a thrilling, satisfying finale, it’s a good time for folk horror fans, exploring some of the the ritualistic and unnerving traditions of Ireland in a way that feels compelling and fascinating whilst still respectful and mindful. With an excellent lead performance from Adam Scott, Hokum is one of the strongest horror films of the year so far, a pleasant surprise and yet another showing of why Damian McCarthy continues to be one of the most exciting directors in the genre.
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