Hokum (2026) Review – Masterful, Terrifying Irish Horror

Welcome to Knockout Horror. Today we are reviewing Damian McCarthy’s latest supernatural horror movie Hokum (2026). This is one of those movies that is absolutely worth jumping on the chance to watch in the cinema if you get the opportunity. Read on to find out why.

An Emerging Horror Talent

Damian McCarthy is probably one of those names that is on the tip of the tongue of a lot of horror fans. The Irish director brought us his seriously spooky and unsettling horror debut Caveat back in 2020 and put the industry on notice. He returned four years later, in 2024, with one of the best films on the year in the form of Oddity.

“Anyone worrying about a slump after Oddity’s success can put their concerns at ease.”

Refusing to rest on his laurels, he’s back less than two years later to absolutely scare the pants off of you once again with another supernatural tale of woe. Hokum follows well-known American author Ohm (Adam Scott) as he heads back to his parents’ home of Ireland to scatter their ashes.

When he arrives at the very rural Bilberry Woods Hotel, he finds himself at the centre of a mystery surrounding a supposed witch, a missing woman, and a forbidden room at the top of the property.

It’s best to prepare yourself for a lot of what McCarthy does best, here. Dry wit, tons of atmosphere, a surprisingly grounded story, gorgeous visuals, and an unsettling bleakness that will creep out of the screen and into every corner of your room. Anyone worrying about a slump after Oddity’s success can put their concerns at ease.

A compelling tale

Something I really love about McCarthy’s writing is how self contained the stories are. They tend to be confined, almost entirely, to one particular location and just a few characters. This allows the venue in question to really breathe and come alive. In Caveat, it was the decrepit house on the island, here it is the hotel itself.

It’s a grand old building that you can imagine costs a decent amount of money to go and stay at. Only to find someone has booked it out for a wedding and it’s full of noisy people who are pissed as farts loitering all over the grounds. Not exactly the most obvious setting for a horror movie but this building hints at a dark past.

One of the rooms is completely locked up after the disappearance of a woman years before and the staff all seem a little bit… peculiar. Ohm, himself, is a little strange. He’s a successful novelist but also ruthlessly asocial and suffering from tremendous depression.

His own past hints at hidden ghosts and his relationship with his, now deceased, parents seems complicated, at best. He’s only at the hotel to fulfill their one last wish to be scattered together at the place they spent their honeymoon. He plans to occupy the rest of his time drinking.

It’s a simple tale but it’s compelling. McCarthy feeds you just enough lore and backstory to keep you thoroughly engaged throughout. Much like with Oddity, the occasional drop of dry humour helps to maintain a sense of levity against all that dark mahogany and incandescent mood lighting. It’s the horror that we are here for though, obviously, and that is an utter triumph.

Genuinely scary

The horror here is very subtle but incredibly effective. McCarthy enjoys blurring the line between the supernatural and the human. His stories tend to feature a mix of very real villains and supernatural entities that may, or may not, simply be a figment of the observer’s imagination.

“The supernatural stuff in Hokum almost feels like it is playing witness to the events taking place. It only interferes when someone prods too far beyond the veil.”

It’s more of the same here. When a woman goes missing, Ohm is determined to find her. The only problem is that nobody at the hotel is all that willing to help. This leaves him to enlist the aid of a local homeless man and this is when things start to get very strange. Ohm’s detective work leads us to some incredibly nail biting tension and a consistently thick atmosphere.

The hotel turns antagonist as its darkest secrets come to the fore but it’s always the human element that somehow feels more sinister. The supernatural stuff in Hokum almost feels like it is playing witness to the events taking place. It only interferes when someone prods too far beyond the veil.

There’s that constant reminder that humans are the truly terrifying creatures haunting this earth. That doesn’t mean that the spooks and spirits take a backseat entirely, though.

There are some seriously effective scares involving claustrophobic locations, pitch black basements, and supernatural entities of questionable intent. Hokum, once it gets going, is a complete thrill ride that will keep you on the edge of your seat throughout.

Well acted and technically great

Adam Scott takes up the majority of the screen time here. While he’s not a particularly likable character, his is a story of redemption, acceptance, and learning to forgive himself so you will warm to him after some time. Scott is fantastic when it comes to delivering a lot of the dry wit and comes on strong with the more emotional stuff.

“A lot of the tight shots and claustrophobia-inducing staging will have you scrunching your feet in discomfort, too.”

Everyone else is fantastic. I particularly enjoyed David Wilmot as the homeless man Jerry. Writing is fantastic; though characters aren’t massively fleshed out they all feel very real thanks to some excellent dialogue and effective character building.

Hokum is an absolutely gorgeous film, too. This is my main reason for why you should try and catch it in the cinema; it’s the best way to indulge in the atmosphere.

McCarthy has really mastered that particular brand of moody, dimly lit terror that almost feels a little bit nostalgic. It looks gorgeous, sounds great, and the careful use of silence will keep you on the edge of your seat. A lot of the tight shots and claustrophobia inducing staging will have you scrunching your feet in discomfort, too.

I do think it deserves mention that Hokum feels, ultimately, like a bit of a step down from Oddity. It’s a much more simple story, a little less scary, and a lot more predictable. It feels like McCarthy is occasionally defaulting to some of the things that worked in Caveat rather than innovating something truly fresh.

In fact, in some parts it felt like this was recycling some of the more effective moments from that film to see whether they worked with a new audience. They do, but it’s going to feel familiar to people who have watched both films. Still, these are minor complaints. Hokum is utterly fantastic.

Our Scoring Philosophy: A Fair Fight

Horror is a genre that thrives thanks to indie film makers and low budget creators. At Knockout Horror, we firmly believe that every movie that we review deserves a fair fight. That's why we grade on a curve. Our star ratings are all about context, judging a film on what it achieves with the resources it has.

A 4-star rating for a scrappy indie horror made for $10,000 is a testament to its ingenuity and raw power. A 4-star rating for a $100 million blockbuster means it delivered on its epic promises. We don't compare them side-by-side; we celebrate success in every weight class, from the back-alley brawler to the heavyweight champion. Please keep this in mind when considering star ratings.

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