Hokum: A Great-Looking Horror Entry That Falls Short in Fundamental Areas (4K/Blu-ray)

The Film:

Writer/director Damian McCarthy, who had primarily been known for making short films up until recently, gave us his first feature in 2020 with "Caveat," an effort that received a mixed reception, but was enough to lead to his next project, "Oddity" in 2024. It received better reviews, but in all honesty, it wasn't a particularly memorable horror outing, though it continued to show that he had some potential as a filmmaker. This brings us to his latest effort, "Hokum," in which his aim was to put his own spin on the classic "haunted hotel" trope like "The Shining," "1408," and "The Innkeepers" before it. Could this be the one that finally shows us McCarthy's true talent, or will it merely be a third forgettable attempt to elicit some thrills?

The film follows Ohm Bauman (Adam Scott), a popular author who has been struggling to finish a successful series of books about a Conquistador. He decides to visit Ireland in order to lay his parents' ashes to rest, staying at The Bilberry Woods Hotel where they had honeymooned. He gets to know the staff, including the owner Cob (Brendan Conroy) and bartender Fiona (Florence Ordesh), taking a particular liking to the latter after having been rather abrasive with everyone else. Ohm learns that the honeymoon suite is closed off and is supposedly haunted by a witch that Cob trapped inside, which is not too surprising given how Cob has already shown his interest in such tales.

Shortly after, while trying to return his tape recorder to him, Fiona discovers that Ohm has hanged himself, very narrowly saving his life. When he returns to the hotel, he discovers that Fiona has gone missing and that Jerry (David Wilmot), a local who lives outside, is the main suspect. Having met him earlier, Ohm confronts Jerry, who tells him that he saw Fiona's ghost in the hotel, indicating he should go to the honeymoon suite. Ohm and Jerry break into the hotel, eventually leading to the former investigating the closed-off suite, ultimately causing him to dive right into a mystery that stirs up his past, while also possibly proving that Cob's supernatural stories were right all along.

"Hokum" aims to be a kind of slow-burning mystery-thriller, mixed with supernatural elements that eventually come into play as Ohm goes about investigating Fiona's disappearance. It's clearly in no rush, and McCarthy tries to keep it compelling throughout its reasonably-short runtime, but it does find itself consistently struggling to do just that. This is another one that takes a fair amount of time to truly dive into its main narrative, understandably taking a little time to establish Ohm and his situation, but leaving the audience waiting a little longer than they should before finally coming to the point.

This is where things take a somewhat odd turn, for as the mystery really starts to heat up, it's also where it falls back on a significantly overused horror cliche, that being that McCarthy has forced his main character to be someone of lesser intelligence in order to make his plot work. This, as always, is a rather frustrating tactic, for it leaves the audience wondering "Why doesn't he just do this to escape his predicament?" and "Why does he do this incredibly dangerous & pointless thing when he's already been warned against it by people who know?". Obviously these are being left purposely vague, but they are questions that you'll likely be asking yourself as you watch Ohm try to work his way through the situation he finds himself in.

That said, you do have to admire the film's mood & atmosphere. It does have some rather creepy settings, as well as disturbing makeup, which comes in at the most random of times, but makes for what ends up being the best scene in the entire film (again, remaining vague to avoid any spoilers). When it comes to its supernatural elements, as mentioned, McCarthy does try to get some good use out of them as he intermingles them with the narrative, but it's unfortunate to have to say that the most use he really gets out of them is for a few cheesy jump scares, as opposed to actual, useful parts of the story.

In the end, "Hokum" is indeed an admirable attempt at a psychological folk horror entry, but McCarthy just got a few things wrong while putting this script together. You should never have to make your main character an idiot in order to have the plot move forward, nor should you leave your audience sitting around waiting for compelling developments only to give them a few cheap thrills. They certainly got the visuals right, and those are indeed its most memorable aspect, but as far as being an effective & engaging outing of the genre, it sadly falls far too short.

Video/Audio:

"Hokum" comes to 4K in a 2.39:1, 2160p Ultra High Definition transfer of excellent quality. This is yet another horror outing that is extremely dark through much of its runtime, but the picture always remains beautifully sharp & clear throughout its entire 107-minute duration. Likewise, the 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio track is fantastic, giving you all of the dialogue, sound effects, and music in outstanding quality. Overall, NEON has done a wonderful job in both areas for the film's physical debut.

Special Features:

Feature Commentary with Writer/Director Damian McCarthy

The Making of Hokum (16 Minutes): A featurette that goes behind the scenes of the film, featuring interviews with cast & crew.

Jack the Donkey, A Family Favorite (2 Minutes): A brief look at filming Jack's scene.

Conclusion:

Damian McCarthy's "Hokum" is an admirable attempt at putting together a psychological folk horror entry, one that utilizes some chilling mood, atmosphere, and makeup to provide some intriguing visuals, but which sadly falls quite short overall by falling back on the old genre cliche of needing a character to be less-than-intelligent to make it work, as well as not using its supernatural elements in a more effective manner, ultimately leaving us with a great-looking horror flick that doesn't leave much impact.

Score: 2.5/5

Available on 4K/Blu-ray starting tomorrow.

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