Hokum (2026)

"Hokum" is a word that basically means nonsense, often in reference to something supernatural.  It doesn't really do anything to tell the viewer what the movie is going to be about, but what I understand about writer and director Damian McCarthy is this is something he likes to do.  Previous movies have had one-word, eye-catching titles meant to make the potential audience curious.  In this case it is a rather routine haunted hotel story with a healthy dose of folk horror thrown in.

Ohm Baumann (Adam Scott) is an American writer with a significant amount of family baggage.  As he begins the finishing touches on the last entry in his popular Conquistador series he decides it is time to give his parents' ashes a proper resting place.  He travels to a rural hotel in Ireland where they enjoyed their honeymoon to leave their ashes in a nearby tree. 

Baumann has an elitist attitude that does not make him popular with the staff, although he does strike up a friendship with a local homeless man named Jerry (David Wilmet) and a bellhop named Fiona (Florence Ordesh).  After Baumann tries to hang himself and is cut down by Fiona and another employee named Alby (Will O'Connell) he spends time in the hospital.  Upon returning to collect his belongings he learns that Fiona has gone missing and that Jerry is wanted for questioning.  However, Baumann becomes suspicious of the story, believing that Fiona may have entered the closed-off Honeymoon Suite where the hotel's owner (Brendan Conroy) claims to have trapped a local witch. 

While this isn't the most original concept McCarthy is able to add enough interesting local lore to push this beyond what it appears on the surface.  He also has a knack for giving some extra detail to the minor characters.  

A good portion of the second third of the film follows Scott being locked in the Honeymoon Suite with no hope of escape, relying on physical acting and little to no dialogue to push the story forward.  There is an ultimate villain who comes across as pathetic in the end, but Baumann is not a nice person himself, gaining little sympathy from the audience despite the trauma he has suffered throughout his formative years. 

What results is an interesting and entertaining project that tries too hard in a few spots.  McCarthy never lets things get too far away from him and despite Hokum not straying too far from the typical formula he manages to keep the viewer interested throughout. 

Hokum (2026)

Time: 107 minutes

Starring: Adam Scott, Peter Coonan, David Wilmot, Michael Patric, Florence Ordesh

Director: Damian McCarthy