'Hokum' Casts a Dreadful, Inspired Spell
The haunted house genre has been especially busy of late, thanks largely to the popularity of The Conjuring and Insidious, but too often it boils down to characters wandering around in the dark, with intrusive sound effects replacing scares and little else filling in the plot. For example: Lee Cronin's The Mummy, which took a compelling concept and turned it into The Conjuring on steroids. And just a few weeks on the heels of that flop, we have Damien McCarthy's Hokum, which is one of the best haunted house horrors in recent memory. Powered by airtight direction and a galvanizing lead in Adam Scott, McCarthy's follow-up to his equally strong Oddity (2024) earmarks a discerning new voice in horror.
Scott is Ohm Baum, a hard-drinking novelist hard at work on the final volume in his hugely popular series of books about a swashbuckling conquistador. In need of inspiration and trying to escape the memories rattling around in his empty manse, Ohm takes a drive up the Irish coast to spread his parents' ashes at a secluded hotel where the couple spent their honeymoon. No points for guessing that Ohm's personal demons follow him to Ireland, which makes for quite a cocktail when mixed with the hotel's legendary witch and a corporeal threat.
Hokum's first act is undoubtedly its strongest passage. There's a beautiful precision to McCarthy's establishment of the plot and of Ohm as a character. Much of it is done without dialogue, which is both a shrewd atmospheric decision and an admirable show of trust in the viewer's intelligence. It's somewhat inevitable that the movie can't sustain this momentum or dread once it has to ramp up into the full-on spectacle, which happens rather too early in the narrative. Considering the opening section, there's also some disappointing exposition in the back half, especially in the form of Ohm's ubiquitous tape recorder.
But even as Hokum descends into overpowered mania in its middle section, it pulls itself together for a strong climax and a clever little conclusion that offers a rare but well-gauged glimmer of optimism in a genre more comfortable with bleak open-endedness than with firm hope. McCarthy keeps a tight rein over the entire enterprise, aided in no small part by Scott's spectacular work. The movie lives or dies by the actor's performance, and here he's as good as he's ever been.
It's the director who steals the show, however. Throughout, and most notably in the sequences which owe much to horror movies past, McCarthy fills the frame with his particular, peculiar obsessions. Whereas many modern horror filmmakers are content to simply regurgitate their moments of inspiration, McCarthy builds on those homages to create something unique. You can identify immediately who made this movie. When you look at something like The Mummyand Hokum side by side, there's no debate as to which one will stand the test of time.
Hokum is in cinemas nationwide.
This story was originally published by Men's Journal on May 12, 2026, where it first appeared in the Entertainment section. Add Men's Journal as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
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This story was originally published May 12, 2026 at 11:47 AM.