Damian Mc Carthy arrived on the feature film scene at FrightFest with his debut, Caveat. A rather strange and contained movie, Caveat provided plenty of intrigue, featured a nightmarish rabbit ornament, and got audiences excited for his follow-up. His second film, Oddity, performed even better than Caveat, telling a story of cursed items and Golems; now comes Mc Carthy’s third feature film, Hokum, but can the director hold on to his winning streak?
Damian Mc Carthy arrived on the feature film scene at FrightFest with his debut, Caveat. A rather strange and contained movie, Caveat provided plenty of intrigue, featured a nightmarish rabbit ornament, and got audiences excited for his follow-up. His second film, Oddity, performed even better than Caveat, telling a story of cursed items and Golems; now comes Mc Carthy’s third feature film, Hokum, but can the director hold on to his winning streak?
In terms of star power, Hokum sees Damian Mc Carthy ascend to the big leagues with American comedian Adam Scott landing the lead role. Although better known for his comedic roles, Adam Scott’s performance in Apple’s Severance has proven that he can tackle darker stories, and let’s not forget one of his early credits came in the form of Hellraiser: Bloodline. In Hokum, Scott plays author Ohm Bauman, who whilst struggling with the ending of his famous book series, decides to visit a secluded hotel in Ireland where his now deceased parents had visited. Upon arrival, Bauman’s abrasive personality instantly puts him at odds with the staff, but after one of the workers goes missing, Ohm finds himself compelled to uncover what happened to her.
Damien Mc Carthy has never been a filmmaker to shy away from mixing ideas and tones together, and Hokum is no exception. Throughout the course of the film, Hokum touches upon aspects of the murder-mystery, haunted house and wicked witch stories, swirling them together to create something new. Despite this, Hokum’s ideas are never fresh, and at times lean a little too far into trope territory, the story hitting almost every cliché. Whilst this approach will be fine for those new to genre stories, those with more experience will find themselves several steps ahead of Ohm, a position that no viewer wants to be in. The inclusion of the book narrative serves as distraction to the main story, and although connected to Ohm’s personal history, it never quite works and instead feels tagged on merely to add some visual variety.
The production design and setting of Hokum is one of its strong suits. The design of the quarters in which Ohm spends a significant chunk of the film are very impressive. Since Caveat, Mc Carthy has had the ability to find a visually interesting location and Hokum is no exception. Getting to grips with the geography of the hotel can be a little tricky, but overall the building adds a lot of value and atmosphere to the story. Anyone that has seen any of the marketing for Hokum will know that rabbits are back once again. As with Caveat, their presence is more seasoning than anything more meaningful, but all of them are horrific to look at and they are set to unnerve many members of the audience. The other creepy elements are never as strong as the rabbit related dramas, but there is enough of an eerie tone to rouse some unease.
Whether this reads as a compliment or not will depend on your preferences, but Hokum feels like a video game adaptation, despite not being so. There is something about Scott’s delivery of his lines that conjures up a Silent Hill game Harry Mason demeanour. The nature of the narrative further feeds into this as Ohm has to explore his environment looking for clues, unpicking puzzles to hopefully find his way out. This mirrors the gameplay of several high-profile horror video games, and the sensation that this film should be a playable game cannot be shaken.
In the aftermath of Caveat and Oddity, Hokum has big shoes to fill. Whilst Adam Scott is certainly a big enough actor to necessitate an increase in magnitude, there is no escaping the thought that something is missing from Hokum to make it extra special. As it stands, Hokum is a standard ghost story mystery with a great atmosphere, but still lacking the wow factor. Bogged down by his own reputation, it seems as though Damian Mc Carthy might have over cooked Hokum a little too much. The result is a film that, although well made and relatively inoffensive, fails to live up to the hype surrounding it.
Hokum
Summary
Although Hokum has an intriguing central location, the combination of the tired and tested story elements and Adam Scott’s performance make Hokum feel like a mid-tier video game adaptation, minus the source material.
Hokum arrives in UK cinemas from 1st May 2026.
