‘Hokum’ SXSW Review – ‘Oddity’ Director’s Latest Irish Folkloric Horror is Nightmare Fuel

The haunted bell that summoned a bellhop ghost in the closing moments of Oddity turned out to be a prelude for writer/director Damian McCarthy’s Hokum, his most polished and unnerving horror movie yet. A quaint Irish hotel with a deeply haunted history awaits an American writer in the horror filmmaker’s third outing, continuing his streak for folkloric tales of supernatural karma and spine-tingling terror with a dark sense of humor.

Adam Scott stars as Ohm Bauman, a successful author struggling to conclude his conquistador book series that seems destined to end in bleakness. That’s likely because Ohm is very much haunted by the loss of his parents, and so he travels to the hotel where they honeymooned for a sense of closure. Ohm isn’t a very nice guy, though, and alienates much of Billberry Woods Hotel’s staff.

He does manage to make two friends in bartender Fiona (Florence Ordesh) and forest dweller Jerry (David Wilmot), both of whom warn him of the witch haunting the closed-off Honeymoon Suite. When Fiona goes missing, Ohm’s attempts to find her and the truth plunge him into an existential nightmare straight out of a twisted fairy tale.

Hokum‘s setting and acerbic author call Stephen King to mind, 1408 and The Shining specifically, in that the supernatural causes its protagonist to confront their issues in a baptism by unholy fire. While that means that McCarthy places higher emphasis on Ohm’s journey than the witchy folklore, the filmmaker firmly marches to his own drum with a unique and haunted vision. 

While Ohm’s introduction brings an effective scare, Hokum bides its time building anticipation and mystery. That’s not to say it’s light on scares; trust that McCarthy will scare you silly here. But dread and atmosphere take precedence over a constant barrage of jump scares; though there are plenty of those, too. One of McCarthy’s biggest strengths is his ability to conjure up chills from seemingly mundane spaces or objects, and with such imagination. 

There’s a distinct look to a Damian McCarthy horror movie. The filmmaker has a way of making whimsy pure nightmare fuel; Hokum distorts a kids’ show into eerie, uncanny valley-induced terror in its torment of Ohm. Production designer Til Frohlich ensures the hotel, and the Honeymoon Suite in particular, is as tactile and immersive as it is full of personality. When Ohm eventually finds his way in, you can practically smell the musk and mildew.

Adam Scott’s Ohm makes for a pleasant surprise, and his complicated emotional journey gives way to a deeply moving story of a man, not unlike his fictional conquistador bookending this film, so thoroughly broken by personal trauma that he constantly dwells in darkness. In true McCarthy style, expect the creepy as hell witch to dole out some supernatural retribution for crimes committed, but never in the way you’d expect. 

Damian McCarthy excels at defying expectations, also reflected in the way that every supporting player surprises: first impressions are very deceptive here. It’s also reflected in Hokum‘s narrative structure. McCarthy is unhurried in doling out details and uninterested in handholding. The Irish, at least in Hokum, simply accept the existence of folkloric entities like the witch. How she got there isn’t as important as the fact that she’s there and for good. Those hoping for an expansion of lore will likely come away disappointed, but that’s not what’s important to this story.

Hokum so thoroughly invests you in Ohm’s off-kilter quest, one that keeps raising new intrigues and questions, and in a way that’s not easily predicted. The full scope of terror takes a while to arrive for the sake of building anticipation, such nail-biting anticipation that explodes in a folkloric freakout, yet it still holds you firmly in its grip.

McCarthy dangles close to the precipice of bleakness, but ultimately rewards with a magical story about storytelling and the ability to heal. Hokum just also happens to be really freaking scary. But, as Jerry explains to Ohm, you have to be open to it.

Hokum premiered at SXSW and releases in theaters on May 1.