This Movie Gets Stranger the More You Watch It… (Hokum Review)

Added: 2026-05-10

[00:00:00]Today we're reviewing Room 1408 if it was uneventful and starred Adam Scott.

[00:00:16]So Hocus is a 2026 supernatural psychological horror written and directed by Damien McCarthy. He gave us Caveat, he gave us Oddity. Never saw either of them. It takes place in Ireland in a countryside in resort what whatever Irish people call that starring Adam Scott as Om Bowman and that's really about as far as I got.

[00:00:42]The story is about a writer played by Scott Om Bowman who I've got to say I had the quickest change of opinion about a character ever with this character like 17 seconds, man. I've got to say when he first started talking how rude he was to everybody. You thought that pretentious jerk, I hope something really bad happens to him. And then in the very next scene you're thinking well, everybody has their own demons and people are misunderstood. After finishing up his trilogy of books, he decides he wants to wrap up some unfinished business. He wants to tie up all of his loose ends which leads him to that countryside in in Ireland to take care of things that he's been putting off for years and that's where the magic happens. You're introduced to a whole lot of characters that really didn't matter. I thought they were going to be main characters. Turns out nope, just as important as Adam Scott is which is saying a lot. You're introduced to a background story of things that happened to him in his childhood which I guess would cause him to be such a pretentious arrogant jerk while at times having a soft side all depending on who he's talking to and what time of day. I didn't really quite understand that, but then you're introduced to a bellboy and a concierge and a front desk clerk and the owner who is just very, very odd and unsettling altogether. The most important dialogue that sets up absolutely everything takes place at a bar that's one of the saddest things I have ever seen and I've been in a bar at 3:00 p.m. on a Tuesday. But all in all, after the plot point and the main storyline of the movie is completely buried by the bellhop. I mean, at one point he's talking about how the entire inn is haunted, by which he saw it once, it scared the bejesus out of him. Hey, I'm a writer, too. Can you read my manuscript? Regardless, Adam Scott finds himself locked in that haunted room. He can't get out. It's like an escape room.

[00:02:50]He's trying desperately to find his way out so he doesn't meet his demise. He's going through like a MacGyver, if MacGyver had no idea what he was doing, using alarm clock to fix an elevator to go down a dark hallway that has no exit.

[00:03:07]So, there's no reason to go down there in the first place. One point, he sees somebody out the window and he's shouting, "Hey, hey." He doesn't think to break the window. It's It's just the saddest attempt of escaping a room that I've ever seen. But I've got to say, in that room is where the things actually happen. I heard this movie was very, very eerie. I heard it was set up for bad jump scares and there was one scene, one, in the entire movie where it gave me chills. I was desperately watching thinking, "Oh, no, what's about to happen?" And then that was it. You seen some very dark things that was kind of unsettling. The room was set up to be kind of dark and gothic and spooky. Almost like your mind was running away with you. So, did the things happen? Did the things not really happen? And then you get a 1408 ending to think maybe they did happen even though everyone is telling you they didn't happen. The movie was just very all around uneventful. I had a hard time paying attention to the slow burn that is Holcomb. If you're going to go in expecting edge-of-your-seat horror, psychological thriller, spookiness, eeriness, you're absolutely not going to get it. I mean, this movie did to Adam Scott's career what Adam Scott did to Adam Scott's career.

[00:04:45]I went back to try to think of any movie, any one of them, whatsoever, that Adam Scott was in because I know he's been in a lot and I know I enjoyed the movies. Uh so, I started out with Parks and Recreation, the first thing I could remember him in, and that was right about the time that I stopped watching Parks and Recreation. And then there was that Huh.

[00:05:12]In summary, Holcomb really isn't what it was packaged to be. I expected a supernatural horror. I expected more than one eerie spooky feeling psychological horror, the darkness, the the scenery, the background, the setting of the movie. It had so much promise and I thought I was going to really enjoy it, but it ended up being more of an arthouse discussion film, a drama, if you will, a breakdown of the psyche and how if you're forced into a situation to battle your demons, you can come out okay on the other side. This is the type of movie that a student is going to grab onto and write their entire thesis on the poignancy, which is hokum, and the professor is even just going to shake his head and say, "Oh man, I need a drink." This movie just all around didn't do it for me. I could see how others like it, but I love a very deep, rich story. I love engaging characters. I love characters that make you feel something for them, and I didn't feel anything for any of these characters. The main character, I didn't care if he made it out or not. I didn't care if he came face-to-face with his demons and the things that were troubling him, and he came out a better person on the other side. I didn't care about the concierge, didn't care about the bellhop, didn't care. There were a couple of characters that just disappeared. You saw them in one scene, they had a little bit of a line, and then they left. And I didn't care about them, either. I absolutely did not care what happened to these characters, save one. I liked Jerry. I I think that was his name, Jerry. He was the homeless guy that walked around with goat's milk and magic mushrooms, and offered moonshine to people. And he just seemed like an awesome individual, and I kind of wanted to hang out with him. I was sad to see Jerry go. But other than that, this movie to me felt like a waste of my time. It was a slow burn. If anything important did happen in the movie, I lost interest in it, so I wasn't paying attention, and it completely missed me. It was more of an escape room type deal where he didn't do the obvious things to get out of the room he was locked in just so they could further the story. And then you had dream sequences where things were going on. You had ghosts that were showing up that you really didn't know if they were real or if they were a figment of his imagination. And you didn't know if the downstairs actually happened or if it was a figment of his imagination. And if he saw it the way that he actually saw it. It was very open-ended just like he tried to do in his book. A lot of times that aggravates me more than anything else. But what did you think? Leave it down in the comments below. Tell me, was this movie for you or did you find the same problems with it that I did and you just rather have watched something on Netflix and saved your money a little bit. Really interested to know. If you have an idea for a movie you'd like to see me review, you can drop it down in the comments along with a like, a share, a subscribe, a hype. If you like this type of negativity when it comes to movies. If you don't want to do anything like that, you can head over to my Discord, give me a DM, and I will put your suggestion in the queue for you.

[00:08:54]And until we see you next time, I hope you have a great day.

[00:08:58]I know. I I know I know I brought it on myself. What do I expect from a movie that's named after a word that means bull crap and it stars the middle management of acting.