Hokum is genuinely scary & I am so happy🐰Spoiler-free review

Added: 2026-05-08

[00:00:00]One of the most anticipated horror movies of 2026, Hokum, is now out in theaters. The latest movie by writer and director Damen McCarthy. But is it worth the hype? Is it creepy? Is it scary?

[00:00:10]Does it deliver the jump scares as well as giving you a good plot? Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. Let me tell you what I think.

[00:00:19]Welcome or welcome back to my channel.

[00:00:20]If you're new here, I'm Chenade and this is my spooky corner of YouTube where I talk about the spooky books that I've read, the spooky films that I've watched, and I share the occasional spooky shenanigan with you. like bringing totems that I found in the woods into my house thinking there's no way this will go wrong. In today's video, I am bringing you my spoiler-free review of Hokum. I was fortunate to go to an advanced screening of this film a few days before it opened. And I'll tell you the excitement in that cinema. The excitement of so many horror lovers, of cinema lovers, of reviewers in there. It was palpable. And everyone walked away from that. Everyone that I spoke to leaving that cinema was just so happy, so excited because Hok not only delivered being so hyped up, but it really is a good, good horror film. For the record, as always, this is my personal review of Hokum. My experience of watching it and what I thought of it.

[00:01:08]This is a spoiler-free review. I will tell you little bits about the plot to a point, not ruining any surprises. But of course, if you wanted to go in blind to the film, don't watch any videos about it. Just go and come back later. And remember, if you like what you see, if you like what you hear, please subscribe to my channel so I can keep tormenting you with spooky book and spooky movie recommendations and reviews. Hok released on the 1st of May 2026, the third film from Irish filmmaker Damen McCarthy. McCarthy's previous two films, Caveat and Oddity, were a little bit under the radar. They certainly had a much smaller budget than Hokum does. His films are known for their creepy locations, their quiet tension, some very famous jump scares, and plots that combine human horror with an element of folkloric mystery. In Hokum, Adam Scott plays an American author, Om Bowman. He seems to be struggling with finishing his latest novel, but he is also somewhat haunted by the memories of his deceased mother. M decides to travel to Ireland to stay in the Bilbury Woods Hotel, the place where his parents honeymooned so he can scatter their ashes there. From our first meeting with him, M is not a particularly likable character. He is gruff. He is miserable.

[00:02:08]He's sarcastic and pretty rude to the people around him, though he does seem to be carrying a darkness within him.

[00:02:13]The Bilbury Woods Hotel is quirky to say the least. When he arrives there the night before Halloween, he meets the members of staff. He even sees the owner, an older man, telling an Irish legend to a pair of children, seemingly trying to frighten them with his words and various terrifying little figurines that he has in his hotel as he shares the story of the Kalia, a witch that is said to haunt the hotel. Yes, the once lavish honeymoon suite in the hotel is actually gated off completely. No one may go in there because it is said that the witch haunts that very room. M meets different characters in the hotel and outside of it, and it will lead to him being embroiled in a mystery that he feels compelled to help solve. During his time at the hotel, Om will face all manner of horrors, both new and familiar. It has been several days since I've seen Hokum and I really haven't stopped thinking about it because not only do I think this is a great horror film, it's also filled me with a sense of joy when you see something that is imbued with such attention to detail, such love, such thoughtfulness, such creativity and respect for how to deliver good horror without ever taking yourselves too seriously. It just fills my heart with joy. Let me tell you, this film is spooky with a capital S. If you are a fan of the supernatural and you like a little bit of a spooky thriller element of it, this film will deliver.

[00:03:29]What Damian McCarthy has done in his previous films is repeated in Hokum in terms of its structure. You've got a creepy setting. You have some sort of folkloric mysticism going on, a legend, a haunting. Something is happening that is otherworldly. But underneath that, as part of this story, there is a human mystery to be solved, to be worked out.

[00:03:50]The film is dark. It is moody. You are scanning the screen to see if shadows are going to move and what could be creeping in different corners. The Bilbury Woods Hotel is rural. It's rundown. It's a place that you would say in Ireland had notions at one point of grandeur, but it's certainly since lost its shine, the decaying rooms, the way it is broken down and ignored and neglected. It both reflects M's own character, his turmoil, everything that is broken inside of him. But it is also a ry nod to why people do not want to mess with the past. We do not want to go into the past. We do not want to mess around with ancient things or recent traumas. We stay away from it and we will happily lock things away and let them rot, let them fester without ever tending to them. The cinematography does a fine job of showing you the perspective of the room of the hotel while you're watching certain characters. gives you more space to spot things, to see things, to to imagine things even in your own mind, but also a nice element of claustrophobia where you are really really up against some of the characters and getting their sense of tension, wanting them to succeed even in the worst possible circumstances.

[00:04:59]Honestly, there are sections of this film, particularly in the famed honeymoon suite, I felt like I was getting immersed in some of my favorite old point-and-click horror video games.

[00:05:09]That's how it felt. the satisfaction of sort of scanning and and things had to be done. The the camera work is very similar to that. You have a lot of perspective and then sort of looking around to see what is what is in this room, this space, while you have to try and work things out as well. Um, and that gave me again a deep deep sense of satisfaction. I love stuff like that.

[00:05:30]The fact that Halloween is coming up and the hotel has carved turnips rather than pumpkins, which is what you do in Ireland, and they are infinitely more frightening. Sure, there is a moment where a member of staff has to bring out a big book that says Irish folklore across the front of it. I'll allow it.

[00:05:45]It's fine. The little references that are made by different characters in there felt very genuine. The sound in this film is also excellent. In particular, the soundtrack, which has very creative uses of voice work, of melding together of different human everyday sounds and into something very strange that is very unsettling, very haunting, very Irish folklore. coded. I think a lot of people have theories about the sounds that they hear in that film. While I loved Caveat and Oddity, I did think the scripts were okay for the films. They served a purpose, but they weren't necessarily the strongest that I'd heard. A little bit expositional.

[00:06:24]There have been improvements to the script writing in Hoken. But there are also huge chunks of this film where there is no dialogue. You are just tense at the edge of your seat waiting to see what is going to happen. This is an incredibly creepy film with very serious subject matter, but it also knows how not to take itself too seriously.

[00:06:41]There's enough humor in some of the side characters and some of the actions of M himself and Adam Scott gives a great performance in this that bring a bit of levity that makes you connect with the characters all the more. This is a film that feels very comfortable in itself, in its vision of the various horrors that will be meed out to different people and different characters and in different ways through the story. And in its comfort, it's able to be just very lightly humorous as you go through it.

[00:07:10]The characters aren't reaching for laughs and gags, nor are they taking themselves seriously all the way through the film. There is a real humanity and a nice lightness to it. As referenced by one character when Om arrives in the hotel, it's just a bit of crack. And crucially, the film delivers on the scares, I think, at the right time and in the right quantity. You are going to see some very frightening things and they are going to come at you and you were going to scream. You were I screamed several times in the cinema.

[00:07:34]Not a screamer, but did there tiny bit of pee came out as well. I think the number of jump scares in this film is right on the line. Is right on the edge.

[00:07:43]One or one more could have tipped it over to excessive. It relies on them to an extent, but it's not sacrificing a good story and a good plot with it. I'd seen in earlier reviews before I'd watched the movie that the film owes a lot to Stephen King that there are references in there or people were able to spot similarities with the likes of The Shining and Misery because you've got a writer in there who's wrestling with himself and and other forces as well. And I think that rings true in the best way. It doesn't feel derivative. It feels inspired by that, but it takes the best elements of it and grows and delivers something fresh with it. I need to know why Damen McCarthy has a thing about terrifying rabbits.

[00:08:22]Do you remember the rabbit from Caveat?

[00:08:23]Anyone? If you've not seen Caveat, this don't think there was a rabbit in Odity.

[00:08:28]We just had that in Hokum. This is a picture that is in the trailers that has been used in all the publicity. You'll be seeing that.

[00:08:37]You'll be seeing that. What's up with the rabbits? There were a couple of notes that I had. There is a framing device used in the film at the start and at the end all around the book that M the writer is working on at the time and you see clips from that in a completely different location. I understand why it's in there because it represents the evolution of his mind and his writing process and his mental state while creating these stories. I I don't think it was particularly necessary. I did get the sense that they had a bigger budget.

[00:09:04]I felt to me as if they went screw it.

[00:09:06]Let's just go here because it's in a weird location. Uh, power to them. Power to them for just doing that. I don't think it was particularly necessary. It was fat that could have been trimmed.

[00:09:15]However, I don't have a problem with it being in there. It's not that it was jarring. It was just meh. Did you need it? This is a jump scare heavy film. And for me, the balance worked. I would say that if you're not a big fan of jump scares, then you might have a natural reticence or it might be quite jarring for you to watch it. But I do think the jump scares are well tied in with the story. They all link up and there is a relevance to everything that you see. I felt that every scare was earned. Hok is not groundbreaking. It is not doing incredibly new things and twisting and subverting the genre on its head. It is taking all of the good things about spooky supernatural horror, spooky thrillers, and it is putting them together in a film with a vision to let us make the best version of that and delivers it with passion, with excitement, and yeah, with a little bit of crack. If any of that sounds like your cup of tea, then do check out Hokum in the cinema. Support the movie and support your local theaters. And also let me know if you have seen it. Are you planning to see it? The comments are open if you would like to weigh in with your thoughts. If you are going to mention specific bits, put spoiler at the top. Be kind to other people in the comments. Don't ruin the film for them.

[00:10:25]And let me know any other films that have absolutely slapped for you so far in 2026 or through the entirety of your life. Thank you for joining me for this spooky review. Let me know what spooky you are watching next. And stay spooky. Bye-bye.