MOVIE REVIEW: HOKUM

 

When novelist Ohm Bauman retreats to a remote inn to scatter his parents' ashes, he's consumed by tales of a witch that haunts the honeymoon suite. Soon, disturbing visions and a shocking disappearance force him to confront dark corners of his past.

Director: Damian McCarthy

Cast: Adam Scott, Peter Coonan, David Wilmot, Florence Ordesh, Michael Patric, Will O'Connell, Brendan Conroy, Austin Amelio

Release Date: May 1, 2026

Genre: Horror

Rated R for some violent/disturbing content, and language.

Runtime: 1h 41m

Review:

Damian McCarthy’s latest film, Hokum, is another atmospheric exploration of trauma and regret, carried by a strong central performance from Adam Scott, that doesn’t bring as many scares as 2024’s Oddity but still works as an effective thriller with hefty supernatural elements.   The central conceit of a damaged writer traveling to a haunted hotel immediately elicits comparisons to Kubrick’s The Shining which will be hard to avoid.  There are similarities between the two, but McCarthy does manage to pave his own path by delivering something closer to a murder mystery paired with a haunted house.  He takes his time setting up the location and the eccentric collection of locals at the hotel who come in contact with Adam Scott’s novelist.  Scott delivers a fairly engaging turn in the lead by dialing up the asshole level to 11 especially in the first half of the film.  His character just seeps with nihilistic energy from the open shot which starts to make more sense as we learn more about his traumatic childhood.  There’s enough nuance to his performance to even out some of his outright hostility which gives you peeks into the pain he’s carried through his life.  Once the action moves into the more self-contained Honeymoon suite, he sheds that top layer as he moves into survival mode as he’s dealing with murderous entities, both real and supernatural.  McCarthy sets up a claustrophobic, haunted fun house that delivers the majority of the film’s scares.  There are only a handful of jump scares scattered throughout with using the atmosphere to great effect that builds to a creepy conclusion that still offers a sliver of hope amid all the dour darkness wrapped into the narrative.  Fun supporting turns from Peter Coonan, David Wilmot and Florence Ordesh leave you wishing the film spent a bit more time fleshing out their characters to make them more three dimensional and take advantage of the performers’ talents.   Small complaints aside, Hokum is a rather impressive puzzle box of a supernatural thriller that delivers a story that’s far meatier than most other films in the genre.  

A-

MOVIE REVIEW: ODDITY

 

After the brutal murder of her twin sister, Darcy goes after those responsible by using haunted items as her tools for revenge.

Director: Damian McCarthy

Cast: Gwilym Lee, Carolyn Bracken, Tadhg Murphy, Caroline Menton, Jonathan French, Steve Wall

Release Date: July 19, 2024

Genre: Horror, Thriller

Rated R for some bloody images/gore and language.

Runtime: 1h 38m

Review:

Oddity is a lean, well constructed spook fest that sets up scares with impressive skill that echoes Guillermo del Toro's The Devil's Backbone.  Damian McCarthy displays a self assured confidence behind the camera as he smartly constructs his film to establish mood and setting.  He manages to use a series of well timed jump scares to hammer home the overall tension he establishes early on.  In lesser hands, these jump scares might come off as an easy out, but McCarthy manages to pull you into the story's central mystery in order to set you up for the sudden shocks.  His judicious use of these moments works in the film's favor as he allows the film's cast to carry the film with excellent performances across the board especially Carolyn Bracken in a dual role.  Bracken does the majority of the heavy lifting as the surviving, blind twin sister who possesses supernatural ability and a rather large wooden Golem.  She brings an unnatural aura to her performance that gives the character an otherworldly feel.  Her interactions with Caroline Menton and Gwilym Lee are unsettling because there's a steady sense that her character knows far more than she's letting on.  Menton, who plays the widower's new girlfriend, is appropriately freaked out from the moment she shows up while Lee's turn in more measured throughout.  He brings a quiet charisma and charm to his role which makes the late reveal effective even though it's fairly predictable.  The story in general doesn't offer a ton of surprises and nearly everything turns out the way you'd expect.  It’s a testament to the talent on both sides of the camera that Oddity works as well as it does even with a fairly straightforward story.

B