Review: Hokum
There's a lot under the surface of this horror mystery. Supernatural and natural dangers abound, and Adam Scott tries to navigate them in an unfamiliar, non-comedy setting.
Adam Scott is always such an understated presence, especially for an actor mostly known for comedy. Whether it's Party Down or Parks & Recreation, he is destined to be the straight man, reacting dryly to all of the zany characters in his orbit. As the lead in a horror movie, he brings that same, subdued energy but injects it with misanthropy and morose self-pity. Scott plays an American writer traveling to Ireland to finish his book trilogy and distribute his parents' ashes. He is a deeply unpleasant person - an acerbic wit, minus the wit, who manages to befriend a hotel employee despite himself. Her disappearance, after she foils a suicide attempt by Scott, fuels the plot. It can be tricky to rely on such an unlikable protagonist, but Scott is a good actor and just barely managed to keep me on his side as he experienced growth across the events of the film. This is a pretty dark watch, with no romance and minimal humor to dilute the oppressive gothic vibes. I really like it though. It is quite effective at what it attempts to do. I'm also happy that it adds another tick mark to the "dead animal as harbinger" list that I've started (its a goat that had been tripping on psilocybin this time - seriously).
Hokum is a bit of an odd duck. It has elements of a haunted house story (technically a haunted hotel), a ghost story, and a witch story. Now, the Venn diagram of those types of tales already resembles a set of coasters that has been loosely stacked, so it's not like it is such a crazy concept to combine them here, but the fact that the film never quite settles into a stock archetype for its plot does a lot for the viewing experience. Because this is a serious horror movie released within the last decade, the central metaphor is actually about unprocessed trauma. I have started to become weary of that thematic direction after watching and reviewing so many films that rely on it over the past several years, but the novelty of Hokum's story structure balanced out the trauma-fatigue pretty well. Really, the whole thing is just impressively well-crafted. Ireland in the fall makes for a setting with great atmosphere, and director Damien McCarthy incorporates some surreal imagery and well-placed jump scares with the central mysteries that drive the story forward. It is also a tightly written script, with the various plot threads weaving together perfectly by the time they all resolve. This one snuck under the radar a bit this year, with so much attention going to Obsession and Backrooms, but I'll put it right up there among the best of 2026.
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