SXSW ’26: “Hokum” Abandons Specificity for Generic Witchcraft”
There are few things spookier than a weird hotel in a secluded place. Just ask Jack in The Shining. Hotels in general, haunted or not, have a strange sensibility because of their transient nature. Populated by out-of-towners but run by locals who have a love-hate relationship with tourism, hotels are ripe for things to be stranger than they seem. In his third feature, the SXSW-premiering Hokum, Damian McCarthy takes viewers to a remote inn in Ireland where the line between folklore and reality is thin.
Writing is a solitary business. Ohm Bauman (Adam Scott) sits at a desk in his darkened home, the only light a small table lamp, the only company a glass of whiskey. He’s trying to write the ending to his beloved adventure trilogy but keeps hitting a wall. Ohm decides he needs a change of scenery and travels to the Irish inn where his parents honeymooned. They’re now deceased, and Ohm plans to spread their ashes on the grounds of the inn because that was the last time he felt they were truly happy. While there, he hears tales of Irish witches and is warned that all the stuff of folklore is true, he just needs to have an open mind. Not long after he arrives, one of the hotel employees goes missing (Florence Ordesh) and Ohm becomes involved in the search as inexplicable visions plague him.
Courtesy of NEON
McCarthy’s 2024 film, Oddity, was one the scariest movies of the year on many lists. Thus, Hokum is highly anticipated by horror lovers, but sadly, the film doesn’t manage to scare up many screams. Of the three horror films I’ve seen at this year’s SXSW, Hokum received the most muted reactions from the crowd. SXSW filmgoers are seasoned veterans in the genre space and know when to expect a jump scare. It makes for a magical horror experience when the filmmaker is able to subvert those expectations. Every time you think there might be a jumpscare in Hokum, there is, which creates a lack of tension. Save for the truly impressive and creepy creature design for one of Ohm’s visions, Hokum is a pretty by-the-numbers horror. Lights flicker, entities appear from the shadows, and the inn is more cavernous than the viewer initially understands.
One of the biggest selling points for Hokum is its use of Irish folklore as the backbone for Ohm’s hauntings and visions. Perhaps it’s personal preference, but regional folklore is compelling. Each part of the world has created its own answer to a question about the universe they don’t understand. In films like Wicker Man or The Wailing, regional folklore is intrinsically tied to the horror of the film. In Hokum, the witch that’s alluded to is generic enough that it could even be here in Austin, TX. Ohm travels all the way to Ireland to have a haunting experience that might have happened anywhere in the world. Couple that with the fact that most of the scares come when the audience expects them and Hokum doesn’t have much to stand on. Scott’s performance is sturdy, but he plays such a gruff, unlikeable guy that it’s tough to root for him. It’s more than being unlikeable, though. He’s flat-out mean in a way that’s never justified.
Hokum had big expectations to meet after the success of Oddity, but because the film abandoned its premise of Irish folklore, it doesn’t measure up. The film doesn’t have sharp teeth, which makes it difficult to sustain a feeling of tension or fear. Without that, there’s not much left in the world of horror movies, and Hokum feels vaguely empty-handed.
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