Hokum (2026) Horror Movie Review | Blood Splattered Vlog

Added: 2026-05-13

[00:00:00]Greetings fellow gore hounds and welcome back to a blood splattered vlog. I'm the horror guru.

[00:00:04]>> I'm Ctacula >> and today we're going to talk about Hokum, a horror movie written and directed by Damian McCarthy of Caveat and Oddity fame.

[00:00:15]>> And much like those movies, this movie is a slow burn.

[00:00:19]>> It's a slow burn. It's probably his most accessible movie, though. Yes.

[00:00:23]>> There's something about it that's a little bit more straightforward than the other two movies.

[00:00:27]>> Yeah. which kind of messes with your head a little bit more. Whereas this movie is kind of a straightforward narrative. There are some twists and turns. It's such a just well done script. The characters are so well realized. It's probably one of the tightest scripts I've I've watched this year.

[00:00:41]>> It's one of Adam Scott's better performances.

[00:00:43]>> Yes. Adam Scott of um Severance and Parks and Recreation fame as well as Little Evil and uh the Monkey Fame does a really great job in a very serious role this time around. Um he's done serious roles before but this role he's kind of playing like almost like a Stephen King style protagonist the kind of like broken author character his name is M Bowman and uh he basically after seeing the ghost of his mother one day decides to visit rural Ireland to go to the hotel where his parents honeymooned to scatter their ashes and hopefully in the process get some inspiration to finish the um ending of the trilogy of novels that he's But in the process of doing all this gets wrapped up in a murder mystery, or at least the mystery of a missing girl named Fiona. And he ends up getting wrapped up in this mystery involving crazy druggies living in the woods, possibly witches and definitely ghosts.

[00:01:44]>> It's just a very well-ritten ghost story at the end of the day. There's a lot of other stuff in the movie, but at its core, it's a ghost story. It kind of reminded me of um that Tai West movie, The Inkeepers. Yeah, I kept thinking of the inkeepers >> because like the small hotel environment with like the spooky ghost moments.

[00:02:01]>> Yeah. Very atmospheric. Not not particularly >> with a story that's taken its time, you know, >> but like all of Damian McCarthy's previous movies, Oddity and Caveat, there's almost like a folk horror element to it.

[00:02:16]>> Yeah. Because all of his movies have like that freaky rabbit thing that's that's going on. There's the bunny and Caveat, which actually makes a reappearance in Oddity as kind of like a little cameo. And then in this, there's bunny imagery throughout the movie. And there's also like children's television character named was it Jack the Jackass or something like that.

[00:02:36]>> Yeah, something like that. Yeah.

[00:02:38]>> Um, and he's supposed to be a donkey, but even his donkey outfit is kind of like >> It looks like a rabbit.

[00:02:43]>> It looks like a jack rabbit.

[00:02:45]>> Yeah. And also one of the spirits that keeps appearing for him also looks like a bunny. But the reason for that is actually explained later in the movie that we'll talk about in the spoiler section.

[00:02:56]>> Yeah. So somewhere within this vicinity, this girl went missing. So he's trying to solve it because when he arrived at this place, she was like the one person he actually connected with.

[00:03:07]>> Yeah. Now to be fair, that's partially because he's an [ __ ] But what I liked about him is that he's written to be an [ __ ] but also an [ __ ] who's not completely a piece of [ __ ] Like, one of the things he's an [ __ ] about is the groundskeeper killing these goats.

[00:03:23]>> Yeah. Now, on the surface, like, yeah, like he's killing these goats. The goats did nothing wrong. He's just [ __ ] murdering them because they're nuisances. But the way Adam Scott goes about it is very much the uh American entering the rural community that he's not a part of and then like shoving his weight around. So he goes about it in a very [ __ ] way, but his core complaint that the guy is killing these poor goats is valid, you know.

[00:03:46]>> Well, well, the thing I like about it is they explain why he's being such a >> [ __ ] Yes. Later on in the movie, you learn more and more about this guy. It's kind of like 1408 in that way. Like you kind of watch him slowly lose his mind dealing with these potentially supernatural forces as well as like physical forces. And throughout it, you're kind of getting more glimpses into who he is and why he became the way he is, why he's an [ __ ] why his parents weigh on him so much and uh also why he's kind of obsessed with like figuring out what happened to this girl, you know, who we also mentioned earlier in the movie kind of reminded him of his mom, which is also like an important key factor in this. It's not the scariest movie you'll ever see, but it definitely had moments that like chills ran down my spine.

[00:04:27]>> Yeah. Yeah. There was one moment in particular which is a which is a big spoiler >> um that I was just like Jesus Christ.

[00:04:36]>> And you know unlike the endkeepers which I really love the endkeepers this movie has a much bigger ending.

[00:04:43]>> Oh yeah. Even though it's a small movie it has a big ending and I really like the big ending that it has. It's really nice. It goes all the way with a lot of the concepts it introduced throughout it. Great performances all around. Also shout out to the character Jerry.

[00:04:56]Jerry's a real one. the real one.

[00:04:58]>> Yeah.

[00:04:58]>> Jerry is this hobo who lives in the woods and drinks magic mushrooms. Drinks magic mushrooms mixed in with goats milk.

[00:05:07]>> Yeah.

[00:05:08]>> And performs burial rituals for all the goats that the guys kill at the place and actually kind of connects with the main character.

[00:05:17]>> Yes.

[00:05:17]>> Because he also agrees about the goat thing. I legitimately thought at first that he was going to be like some sort of forest spirit or something, but the movie goes in a different direction with it. But I really love his character. The actress who played Fiona did a really good job, too.

[00:05:30]>> Yes, >> she's only in a small portion of the movie as well as some flashbacks. Her presence is definitely missed when she goes missing.

[00:05:37]>> Yeah, Hokum. It is currently available in theaters. And with that, semi, my fellow gore hounds, let us move on to the spoilers.

[00:05:50]Okay, biggest spoiler is that part of the reason the guy is being such an [ __ ] is because he is there at this hotel to commit suicide. Yes, he came there to commit suicide. And the reason why he wants to commit suicide is because when he was a little boy, he accidentally killed his mother. He was playing with his dad's gun, the gun went off, and it killed the mother. And this is something that has haunted him his entire life. It's why all his novels are so [ __ ] dark and like bleak and like punishing to the reader cuz it's kind of like his way of punishing himself. And it's also why seeing the ghost of his mother prompts this whole spiritual journey >> to this honeymoon spot.

[00:06:30]>> Yeah. It's it's one of those stories where he is haunted by a ghost. He goes to another location that is also haunted.

[00:06:35]>> Yes. That is haunted by something else.

[00:06:37]Possibly a witch that is contained in the basement of this place. Well, actually they say it's contained in the um in the honeymoon suite, but it turns out it's contained in the honeymoon suite because the honeymoon suite connects directly to the basement because of the dumb waiter. Yeah, >> but it's actually living in the basement is where it's actually chained up.

[00:06:54]>> Yeah.

[00:06:55]>> And there actually is a witch in this.

[00:06:56]The witch actually is the next spoiler.

[00:06:58]The witch is real. But the witch is not the source of evil in this mo in this movie.

[00:07:02]>> No, >> it's not the evil in the story.

[00:07:04]>> The uh the [ __ ] the the clerk.

[00:07:08]>> The desk clerk. The desk clerk, who is the son of the guy who owns the hotel, >> Yeah.

[00:07:12]>> his name is Mal. He was having an affair with Fiona, got Fiona pregnant. And then to cover up the pregnancy, to cover up the affair, he killed Fiona during the Halloween party.

[00:07:24]>> Yeah.

[00:07:25]>> And stuffed her in the dumb waiter.

[00:07:27]Well, he didn't kill her. He stuffed her in the dumb waiter, led her down there where there was no way up, and she basically starved to death down there.

[00:07:33]>> Yeah.

[00:07:33]>> The bunny imagery in the movie comes because she was wearing a bunny costume at the Halloween party. So, when the ghost in the bunny costume keeps appearing for the main character, it's Fiona's ghost who appears multiple times. And you're wondering throughout the movie, is he just haunted by the thought of her, or is that a literal ghost that's appearing before him?

[00:07:51]>> Yeah. Yeah. It turns out it's a literal ghost.

[00:07:53]>> It's a literal ghost. There are multiple times throughout this movie where the scenario could only play out if the ghost is real. Not the least of which being when Mal, the villain of the story, tries to burn down the hotel and he's like suffocating in the [ __ ] smoke and the groundskeeper runs in and he hears a woman's voice yelling for him.

[00:08:10]>> Yeah.

[00:08:11]>> And he goes in that direction and finds Adam Scott [ __ ] suffocating on the ground and saves his life, which is the second time, by the way, Fiona's ghost.

[00:08:18]>> Fiona saves him. Yeah.

[00:08:20]>> Technically not Fiona's ghost cuz Fiona's ghost uh saves him there, but then Fiona herself saved him when he committed suicide, too, when she was alive. So Fiona saves him twice in this movie. One time in ghost form. But it also means that the mother that he's been seeing throughout the movie is also actually the ghost of his mother. Yeah.

[00:08:35]Who's actually there and has actually been trying to communicate with him. One of my favorite [ __ ] scary moments in the movie is actually the jump scare where he like goes around the corner and she just comes around falling behind him.

[00:08:47]>> It's such a simple [ __ ] scare, but it gets me every time. There's also another kind of cool reveal where it turns out the magic mushrooms were were a setup.

[00:08:55]>> Yeah. At the beginning of the movie, there's this whole exchange with Jerry where Jerry says like when you look into your own eyes, the trips in the mushrooms and you stare into your own reflection. There's like a flashback to the night when he tries to kill himself.

[00:09:09]Um, he doesn't succeed because Fiona saves him and he is like staring at his own reflection and like sees the ghost of his mom again in the [ __ ] elevator on the way back to his room. You don't know in that moment, but this clerk that he [ __ ] insulted earlier in the movie, like is it it's the bell boy?

[00:09:26]>> Yeah.

[00:09:26]>> Spiked his drink with the magic mushrooms. So, he was tripping the night he killed himself. And it got intense cuz he looked at his own reflection and it got too intense and so he couldn't live with himself.

[00:09:38]>> Ah, yeah.

[00:09:39]>> That's one of the reveals that happened later in the movie. But also, because everything's so [ __ ] up, he keeps drinking that swig of [ __ ] like whiskey he's got, which is the spiked whiskey. So, the ghosts are real, but he's also high, which is making the whole scenario a little more [ __ ] up.

[00:09:52]But also, as Jerry explains on the mushrooms, you can see the ghosts that are real and are there, but you wouldn't see otherwise.

[00:09:59]>> Yeah. So, he sees all of them, including the witch in the basement with her [ __ ] banshee whale that's [ __ ] horrifying.

[00:10:06]>> Actually, actually, my one of my favorite little uh little touches is that he learns very early on from like a book of of of witchcraft.

[00:10:14]>> Fiona's book. Fiona's book, >> you know that if you take chalk and you draw a circle around yourself, the witch can't see you. That totally is wrong.

[00:10:22]>> Turns out that's totally wrong.

[00:10:24]>> The funny thing is the scene where he finds the chalk is another example of a non video game-based movie having like a very video game moment because that whole sequence of him going down into the basement felt like a survival horror video game where he's like walking through the dark tunnels with the light, comes upon a piece of chalk, and it's like item acquired. Yeah, >> but I love how he like makes the circle, but when the witch like appears, she just walks right over it.

[00:10:50]>> Apparently that that circle wasn't completed, but I'd have to rewatch the movie to confirm that for myself, but >> Oh, okay.

[00:10:56]>> Apparently, that circle was not entirely completed, so it might have worked.

[00:11:01]>> Maybe.

[00:11:01]>> Maybe.

[00:11:02]>> We'll have to see.

[00:11:03]>> Well, I mean, the look of the witch herself is what really is good.

[00:11:06]>> Oh, I love the witch.

[00:11:08]>> She's so great. Well, I also love the detail that um Fiona was able to see the witch in some of the spooky stuff, too, because she her drink was spiked as well.

[00:11:15]>> Yeah. Oh, man. It was a good movie.

[00:11:17]>> It's a good movie. I really thoroughly enjoyed this movie. I It's not my like number one movie of the year, but definitely top 10.

[00:11:26]>> Yeah, it's really good.

[00:11:27]>> Definitely top 10 list material. It's a great script. One of the best scripts Damen McCarthy has written so far. And I love Oddy and Caveat. Each movie I feel like I love a little bit more. He just keeps getting better and better. This movie was really, really, really good with its sound cues.

[00:11:41]>> Yeah, the sound was great.

[00:11:43]>> Sound is really good. That's the one thing that uh I would why one reason I would recommend seeing it in a theater with like big sound system.

[00:11:51]>> Yep.

[00:11:52]>> You know, also the reason why I keep referring to Jerry as a real one is because for a huge chunk of this movie, Jerry is accused of being the murderer of Fiona.

[00:12:02]>> Oh, yeah. people think that he did it, but uh he is convinced that Fiona is somewhere in the building, even if it's just her body.

[00:12:12]>> Yeah.

[00:12:12]>> And so he's trying to [ __ ] do that.

[00:12:14]And he's the one who kind of spurs the Adam Scott character to keep searching the place. But more than that, when Adam Scott's in danger, this man comes running after jumping out of a car and limping. He's got a broken leg.

[00:12:26]>> Yeah.

[00:12:26]>> And he's [ __ ] got like a hatchet. He can only use one arm. Nothing's going to stop him from saving Adam Scott to the point where it actually gets him killed.

[00:12:33]Like this is >> Yeah. Yeah. He feels so He feels so bad when he >> Justice for Jerry. Favorite character in the whole movie. He's great. So yeah, Hulkum. Great movie. And uh where can they find you, Count Jacula?

[00:12:45]>> Oh, you can find me here on YouTube where I stream sporadically, generally around like 7:00 p.m. Pacific Standard Time on every week night.

[00:12:52]>> Y'all know me. I'm the horror guru. You can find me at the horror guru on various social media platforms, but these days I primarily use Blue Sky. So follow me on there. Be sure to like, comment, and subscribe. And don't forget to ring the notification bell so you're notified of our videos immediately upon their upload. And if you'd like to help out either of us more directly, be sure to check out our Patreon pages. And remember, if you decide to go the Patreon route, even a dollar a month can go a long way. But we will certainly accept more. And if you made it this far into the video, then I want you to comment below. And be sure to comment below using the hashtaggoats on cars. Because there's this hilarious bit in the movie where it turns out the reason they keep shooting the goats is because the goats like to eat the mushrooms in the forest, too.

[00:13:29]>> Yeah. So, they get high and when they get high, they like to look at their own reflections and so they jump on the hoods of the cars to see themselves in the hoods and that's why the [ __ ] groundskeeper keeps finding them to be nuisances and keeps shooting them. So, goats on cars. Goats on cars.

[00:13:47]Goats on cars.

[00:13:50]And that's it. We're done.

[00:13:51]>> Yeah, I think we're done. See you.

[00:14:01]>> Pull up a chair deep in the crib from a blood red channel and you must take a sip.

[00:14:13]Sit right back.