#300: Hokum

Release Date: May 1st, 2026

Format: DCP (Cinemark at The Pike Outlets in Long Beach, CA)

Written by: Damian McCarthy

Directed by: Damian McCarthy

4 Stars

What a pleasant surprise. Dakota and I were invited by friends to tag along to some horror movie that had just opened, Hokum, and with nothing better to do, off we went.

Little did I know, we were stumbling into a great haunted house flick. 

Irish writer/director Damian McCarthy makes his Hollywood debut here, with a story about an asshole writer, Ohm (Adam Scott), who journeys to rural Ireland to spread the ashes of his deceased parents. The hotel he stays at, The Billberry Woods, is quaint and secluded, and may just have a witch residing in the basement.

Okay, so this flick is scary, a credit to McCarthy as director mostly. This might sound simplistic, but I loved his use of darkness. As we follow Ohm’s navigation through the hotel (and under it), full of shadows and dark wood and tapestries, we understand his perspective. We gaze down dark hallways, looking for a movement or refraction of light. It’s scary, but we must know if something is lurking (there is). 

McCarthy’s artistic aims with Hokum prove to be more ambitious than just some simple genre frights, though. His script is surprisingly nuanced, exploring themes of mercy, devotion, and self-forgiveness. There is plenty of sadness with these characters, and with that, beauty as well.

Shot on location in the County Cork woods of southern Ireland, imbued with Irish folklore (and that damn dirty witch), Damian McCarthy’s Hokum seems destined to become a haunted house classic.