‘Hokum’ (2026)

Set in rural Ireland, American writer Ohm Bauman (Adam Scott) travels to the Bilberry Woods Hotel to lay his parents’ ashes to rest. Witnessing his mother's ghost, Ohm is prompted to seek out the place his parents had their honeymoon, and hopefully find the right headspace to finish the conclusion of his successful 'Conquistador' book series.

Tense from the opening, the film finds Scott's Ohm writing up the conclusion to his well-known book trilogy. Distracted, Ohm's peace is interrupted as he feels a presence near him. Suspenseful and agitating, writer and director Damian McCarthy sets the tone for the feature. Immediately putting us on high alert, the duration of the film is spent in uncomfortable tension and eager anticipation of the next scare. Pulling the rug out from under us early on, the filmmaker effectively utilises unconventional timing for scares that ensure an uneasy watch.

Doing its homework early on, Ohm travels to Ireland and is promptly familiarised with his surroundings. Meeting hotel owner Cob (Brendan Conroy) Ohm catches Cob regaling two young hotel patrons about the local tale of the Cailleach. Warning the kids that the witch will lure and shackle them and walk them through the netherworld, the children should beware as the underworld inhabitants will claw at them.

With Scott's Ohm immediately presenting himself as closed-off and standoffish, he invites the kids to get lost and scorns Cob for frightening the children. Further cementing himself as a salty curmudgeon, Ohm meets other hotel staff, taking to no one besides Fiona (Florence Ordesh) who helps Ohm find the tree he is looking for to lay his parents to rest, as pictured in a photo of his mother. Coming across Jerry (David Wilmot) a man who lives nearby in the woods and partakes in magic mushrooms, Ohm learns more of the local lore and dismisses it all as superstition.

Finding out more from Fiona, Ohm learns of the rumours surrounding the honeymoon suite, which allegedly is cordoned off as Cob has trapped a witch inside. Dismissing the story, Cob is later found that evening by Fiona, who rescues him from attempted suicide.

Awakening days later, Cob returns to the hotel to talk with Fiona, but learns she is missing. Jerry being the prime suspect, the two eventually wander to the hotel, with the intention of searching the honeymoon suite for Fiona, as Jerry had seen her ghost telling him to go there.

Managing to gain access, Ohm becomes trapped in the suite, with Jerry captured by another hotel employee. Finding Fiona dead in the suite dumbwaiter, Ohm is haunted by the spectre of his mother, sees a disturbing iteration of a show from his childhood and eventually learns that there is a witch trapped in the suite.

With an unrelenting sense of dread, 'Hokum' really ramps up in its last third and creates a haunted house to be reckoned with. Besides its eerie atmosphere and unsettling imagery, the film serves up more than just a haunting. With a sub-plot involving the hotel owner's son-in-law Mal (Peter Coonan), Fiona and their unborn child, 'Hokum' detours from the familiar and expected and layers the narrative with more intricate horrors, all of them being man-made rather than supernatural.

Besides not knowing how or why Cob has the Cailleach trapped in the hotel, the malfeasance that she, as a presence, is used, instils a deeper sense of disturbance into the viewers. As the witch effectively functions as an executioner, Mal drugging and leaving Fiona in the honeymoon suite serves as one of the cruellest and most selfish acts of violence in recent memory. Showcasing the worst of humanity, Mal's cowardly deed reinforces the idea that there are no bounds to cruelty when one is pushed into a corner.

Blending the supernatural with folklore and regular old murder, 'Hokum' delivers a rarely seen take on the intersection of ancient evils and the darker side of human nature. Creating an old hag to be feared, the constantly oppressive presence of either the witch or a spectre of another deceased woman, the heavy mood creates an uncomfortable and thrilling watch as the tension is broken only on a few occasions as effective jump-scares are used to hammer home the horror vibes.

Score: 3/4