‘Hokum’ – Review Thread

When novelist Ohm Bauman (Adam Scott) retreats to a remote inn to scatter his parents' ashes, he is consumed by tales of a witch haunting the honeymoon suite. Disturbing visions and a shocking disappearance forces him to confront dark corners of his past. Releases May 1st

Director: Damian McCarthy ('Oddity', 'Caveat')

Cast: Adam Scott, David Wilmot, Florence Ordesh

Rotten Tomatoes: 97%

Metacritic: 81 / 100

Some Reviews:

The Playlist – Monica Castillo – 'A'

“Hokum” feels like a throwback to classic horror movies, where the gore is minimal but the mental frights are plentiful. Scott’s role as an embittered writer-turned-investigator is fascinating to watch and feels in line with James Caan’s performance in “Misery.” What could have easily been an overstuffed confluence of ideas – a haunted house, a ghost, a witch, a murder, oh my! – comes together so effectively because of McCarthy’s masterful command of what scares audiences.

The Mary Sue – Rachel Leishman – 5 / 5

Hokum is the kind of horror movie we all need. And it proves McCarthy’s place as one of the kings of the modern age of horror stories. Just….maybe don’t go into a haunted hotel after watching this one.

InSession Film – James D. Williams – 'A-'

Adam Scott’s performance as Ohm is one of his most layered yet. On the surface, he’s a lonely, alcoholic asshole who isn’t interested in much of what anyone has to say. Beneath that, he’s someone carrying a lot of built‑up trauma. The employees at the hotel all have different qualities and characteristics that make them interesting to follow throughout the film. One of my favorite things about the movie was the moody, dream‑like cinematography from Cole Hogan. McCarthy and Hogan also collaborated on McCarthy’s last film, Oddity, so it’s no surprise they were able to deliver another film filled with beautiful, haunting, and nerve‑wracking images. McCarthy has created his own universe with his past two movies.

Bloody-Disgusting – Meagan Navarro – 4.5 / 5

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.

RogerEbert – Brian Tallerico – 3.5 / 4

Tales of Irish witches have been told for generations not just to scare people but because they tap into something true. “Hokum” rises above so many films like it because it takes its character’s plight seriously, never winking at the audience, even as the impossible happens. Dismiss the folk tales at your own peril.

Deep Focus Review – Brian Eggert – 3.5 / 4

McCarthy’s execution is near perfect – more than folk horror or supernatural terror, Hokum thrives on its character work. Venerable works of horror, from Rosemary’s Baby (1968) to The Babadook (2011), find ways to take internal psychological concerns and externalize them. They last because their narrative thrust is compelled by more than base shocks. Hokum does this thoughtfully, which only enhances the scares.

The Wrap – Chase Hutchinson – 90 / 100

Everything from the meticulous production design by Til Frohlich to the rich cinematography by Colm Hogan gives this film added weight, immersing you in the many gloomy corners of the hotel. Each detail makes the rooms—and what lies beneath—feel boundless even as they are suffocating. There is much that remains wonderfully beguiling in the film, and plenty of moments that rattle you to your core that won’t be spoiled here. What can be said is that the way both Ohm and McCarthy find their respective endings proves deeply meaningful. It’s a meaning that may require you to look more closely into the film’s darkness, but you’ll find a profoundly terrifying and ultimately moving vision awaiting you there.

The Blogging Banshee – Molly Henery – 9 / 10

Hokum is one of the most frightening films of the year, combining mystery, drama, and folklore to create a nightmarish work of art. This is likely McCarthy’s best and most horrifying film yet, which is really saying something, considering how fantastic both Caveat and Oddity are. He knows how to create a compelling story while still crafting big scares. Scott makes a triumphant return to horror, proving he can deliver drama and terror just as well as he does comedy.

Nerdist – Kyle Anderson – 4 / 5

I love it when a voice in horror grows without changing their ethos. Getting NEON on board, plus a Hollywood star, doesn’t make Hokum any less Irish or any less weird. Ghosts, witches, and an effed-up, bug-eyed donkey man. I loved it all. Like the best haunted houses, this one gives you plenty of chills while you can’t help smiling.

Dread Central – Josh Korngut – 4 / 5

From a narrative device involving a tape recorder filled with the doomed voice messages of a dead woman, to the resurgence of McCarthy’s uncanny rabbit motif, and a supernatural villain so frightening you may find yourself leaving the lights on for days after viewing, Hokum ultimately reveals itself as the work from a master of spooky cinema.

The People's Movies – Sean Wilson – 4 / 5

There are jump scares, some predictable and others less so, but it’s Scott’s psychological descent that keeps us arrested, while McCarthy, in his usual manner, assimilates the worlds of the living and the dead smoothly. In fact, it’s often the former that yields the most antagonism with spiritual activity often arising out of a very human sense of apathy, ignorance or outright malice – McCarthy’s ability to locate these subtexts shows an acute awareness of folk fable conventions that stretch back millennia. It remains an enjoyable ride even if we’re familiar with the essential ingredients – the key lies in McCarthy’s ability to dust off the layers of familiarity, peeling back years of horror conventions to make them gleam anew.

Filmink – Anthony O'Connor – 16 / 20

Deliciously creepy, full of grand performances from a mostly Irish cast (big props to the wonderful David Wilmot) and utilising folkloric elements cleverly, Hokum is an effective, classic spookshow that is very likely to crawl under your skin and have you scribbling chalk circles around your bed.

Slant Magazine – Rocco T. Thompson – 3 / 4

Hokum feels more substantial than McCarthy’s previous efforts. All of the filmmaker’s signature obsessions are present and accounted for, but there’s a more personal, impactful story that exists marginal to them, unfolding within the man at its center. This can make Hokum’s guiding enigmas, its ominous dumbwaiters and uncanny rabbit men, feel a bit random and undernourished, but the film’s emotional climax is a powerful one.

SlashFilm – Ryan Scott – 8 / 10

It frequently feels like so much modern horror has to have a gimmick or a way in that attempts to elevate it. "Horror as a metaphor for grief and trauma" is a big example that filmmakers love to turn to lately. What's refreshing about McCarthy is that he's just making original horror movies with compelling stories that are fun to watch. Hollywood is inevitably going to recognize his talents and he's going to be making much bigger movies before we know it. For the time being, it's worth enjoying his little horrific delights.

Sight & Sound – Anton Bitel – Positive

To appreciate McCarthy’s surreal take on genre, the viewer, like Ohm, must learn to embrace the ridiculous and irrational side of life and death. Part of the uncanny pleasure of Hokum is its elegant overdetermination. Amid all the creepy grotesquerie and black comedy, McCarthy tells a human story that is more than mere hokum.

FandomWire – Alan French – 8 / 10

McCarthy puts together an amazing combination of visual storytelling, Irish folklore, and pathos. Scott gives a fantastic performance that is worth the price of admission alone. The Neon boost definitely helps, but McCarthy is proving to be one of our most unique horror storytellers, and Hokum will only add to that development.

IndieWire – Katie Rife – 'B+'

McCarthy loses focus after this symphony of tightly controlled terror midway through the second act, adding a little too much backstory and a few too many scenes to the film’s denouement. Still, when “Hokum” works, it really works. It’s straightforward, but that’s OK — we’ve had a lot of attempts to “elevate” the horror genre over the past decade or so. Instead, it’s just a good old-fashioned ghost story, the kind you’d tell over a campfire to scare children. And it’s a hair-raising one at that.

Nexus Point News – Kyle Silagyi – 3.5 / 5

Occasional insufficiencies with the script and characterization hold Hokum back from being a truly exceptional picture, but there’s enough throughout that’s genuinely masterful to make it worth a watch. McCarthy’s ability to establish a foreboding atmosphere teeming with tension—and maintain it throughout the majority of the runtime—is endlessly commendable, with several sequences genuinely feeling as though they had been ripped from one’s nightmares and projected onto a screen. The folded-in elements of Irish folklore help to differentiate it enough from other haunted setting movies, with these components coalescing with the cinematography, sound mixing, and thoroughly unnerving creature design to craft a final product that, while familiar, still feels singular and unique. It’s far from the most thematically rich or narratively nuanced horror film ever conceived, but in its strongest moments, it’s a dread-steeped atmospheric masterstroke that delivers in the way of visceral scares. Speaking from experience, an afternoon screening may be advised.

Next Best Picture – Dan Bayer – 7 / 10

As a ghost story, though, “Hokum” doesn’t put a foot wrong. The film has the hushed, intimate quality of a good campfire ghost story, setting it up with both the opening scene and a monologue from the Inn’s owner, telling a couple of scared kids the story of the witch who lived in the woods and preyed on the lost, dragging them on a tour of the underworld from which they would not return the same, if they returned at all. Augmented by a diorama filled with creepy carvings of screaming children, the scene introduces Bilberry Woods as a storybook location, populated with individuals who feel all too real in their human foibles. Both natural and supernatural forces are at work here, and McCarthy mixes them together in an intoxicating cocktail of horror. While it may be indebted to more modern storytelling methods than his previous features, “Hokum” still possesses enough of McCarthy’s dark magic that it will hold you in a vice grip all the way through. Considering how played-out many horror films feel nowadays, McCarthy’s mastery at scaring the audience is cause for celebration.

Collider – Ross Bonaime – 7 / 10

When it focuses specifically on the scares, Hokum is an effectively disconcerting film that relies on time-honored basics to really get under the viewer’s skin. While it might not be too concerned about answers or a deeper understanding of what’s going on within the lore and mysteries, it more than makes up for it with its frightening approach to horror. Hopefully, we’ll see more films in the future like Hokum and undertone that embrace the good old-fashioned way of doing horror to keep this trend going.