HOKUM (2026) Movie Review | Genuinely Terrifying...

Added: 2026-05-09

[00:00:00]I so badly wanted to get this video to you guys sooner. Um, I we all got sick in this house. We all got sick. We took turns getting sick. So, it wasn't like all at once. And when I thought I was finally in the clear, it passed Ryan and Fern. It finally hit me. Just bear with me with this video. But, I really, really desperately wanted to get my review out for you guys for Hokum because I saw it on Sunday, last Sunday.

[00:00:27]Okay, I saw it on time and I've just been like stirring with my thoughts.

[00:00:30]You'd think I'd have an extensive outline by now and you would be incorrect. I took minimal notes, but I do have some thoughts, so that's why we're here. But Hokum was one of my most anticipated movies of the entire year when you saw that teaser. What What movie was it in front of? But it grabbed me. And then I saw that it was by the director Damen McCarthy who did Oddity and Caveat. I have yet to see Caveat, so I don't know if that's actually good, but Oddity is one of my favorite underrated movies from 2024, I believe.

[00:01:01]And it had Adam Scott in it. I don't know. I was just so excited for Hokum. I love a good folk horror, and that's what it appeared to be. So, we will delve into all of those thoughts. So, make sure to grab a snack, a beverage, something, a meal if you want. I personally had a Factor meal before filming today, and it was absolutely delicious. So, thank you so much to Factor for sponsoring today's video.

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[00:02:39]I was honestly debating doing spoilers, but I just think for the sake of not having this video be super long because I don't have the energy to sit here forever, we're not going to do spoilers.

[00:02:49]I'm sorry. I know. I really don't think it's necessary. I think we can still talk about a lot of the movie without having to do spoilers. When novelist Bowman retreats to a remote in to scatter his parents' ashes, he's consumed by tales of a witch that haunts the honeymoon suite. Soon, disturbing visions and a shocking disappearance force him to confront dark corners of his past. So, the first thing right off the bat, we're going to talk about all the things I loved about this movie.

[00:03:16]Okay, I did really like this movie. I really, really did. I think it did not meet my expectations necessarily, but we'll get into thing, you know, my critiques of it later. But first, we're going to start with the positives, okay?

[00:03:27]Things I liked. The first thing I have to talk about is something that Damen McCarthy does so in unbelievably well and like made for me and that is the horror. Like I said, he directed Oddity and Caveat. Oddity is a scary movie to me. Like it was genuinely terrifying watching that in theaters and I don't know what has taken me so long to watch Caveat. You think that I would have already seen that by now and I don't know why I haven't. So that's definitely going up on my watch list. But the horror, I just feel like he gets horror in such a good, it's the perfect way.

[00:04:02]It's the perfect amount. Like, I have no criticisms when it comes to the horror elements used, the supernatural elements, um, just all the details of the little horror things, the tension, the atmosphere, all of that. Always 10 out of 10. It's It's always perfect. He builds tension and atmosphere in his own way. And I don't want to compare him to someone like Oz Perkins, but Oz Perkins to me is like the master of atmosphere, but his movies aren't scary always. Like I don't think Gretelyn Hansel is a scary movie, but the atmosphere is absolutely stunning, whereas Damen McCarthy I think does atmosphere so well and like the tension so well, but it's still like so scary. And of course, horror is subjective, so like that's not going to be a given for every single person. But if you generally agree with me on my taste in horror and like what I find scary personally, you can check out my scariest movies I've ever seen video right up here if you want to gauge what I find scary or not. Usually, it's the supernatural things that I find the most terrifying. So, he does that really, really well in my opinion, and it always works for me. Like, the scares get me.

[00:05:15]And you know, I watch a lot of horror and I'm not going to say I'm super desensitized because I think I am still pretty sensitive to some horror and especially supernatural horror for some reason has always been like so effective for me and that has maintained especially in a theater setting. If I'm immersed in a theater setting, then yeah, it's not that hard to scare me even though I watch horror movies for a living. But one of the things that he does so well, especially in Hok, oh my gosh, with Hok specifically, is the visuals, the amount of visuals that we see are absolutely perfect. We don't see things too much, like we're not looking at something for too long to where it takes away from the actual horror, but we're also not seeing it not enough where it leaves it all up to the imagination. I feel like he does so well at balancing that and giving us just enough. like we want to see more, but he's not going to give us everything.

[00:06:12]Like he's not going to show us in really good lighting or anything like that cuz we actually don't want that as much as we think that we want that as much as we want to see it in full light and we want to actually that's our brain playing tricks cuz it just wants to make sure it's not going to hurt us or you know our brain wants to see everything but we really don't if we want to be scared by it. So I think that's something that he does so well. And then obviously there's the jump scares. And typically I feel like jump scares aren't my thing, right?

[00:06:41]We know this. But I have not had a complaint when it comes to his movies.

[00:06:45]Something about Oddity. Some of the best jump scares I've ever seen. Like the most effective jump scares I've ever seen. And Hokum also did this as well where they're there and they are a little bit in your face, but I feel like the follow through and the actual horror elements in the movie make up for it.

[00:07:04]So, they're worth it. I still like the oddity jump scares more than Hokum, but Hokum did do jump scares. Okay, I really didn't have a problem with the jump scares. So, I know I already talked about the atmosphere of the movie, but I really want to highlight that again because the atmosphere and the setting of this movie alone make this so good and so rewatchable. I think this movie is very, very rewatchable to me. It's giving cozy. You know, we're in this old inn in Ireland, so it's this old building. Something about like the lighting and, you know, the bar scene.

[00:07:39]We're just very cozy. And I love a story about a writer. I'm a writer staying in a hotel somewhere. That's never going to get old to me. That's definitely been done before, don't get me wrong. But I think the way that he executed the actual story of this and like where it went and you know the climax and all of the elements going on in this story I think was done in a really unique way where all the elements are kind of there that are familiar. Like we've seen stuff like this before but the way he puts it all together and tells a story I think feels really unique in that way. And it's cozy spooky. It is cozy. So, this is a great one for Halloween time. In fact, Halloween is kind of in the backdrop for the first half of this movie. Barely. There's little pumpkins.

[00:08:27]Okay, they're planning a Halloween party. All right, so first half of the movie is kind of like it's there. It's there. But regardless of the pumpkins, I still feel like the atmosphere of like this old hotel or this old inn with the lighting and the candles and everything is just very like cozy, spooky. Those are my two favorite things, the horror and the atmosphere and the setting.

[00:08:47]Those things are topnotch. 10 out of 10.

[00:08:51]Definitely. Um, another thing I really Oh, sound design. Sound design was incredible as well. Loved all of that.

[00:08:57]The sounds that you hear from things, you know, and you don't see any. You're not seeing anything yet, but you hear it. Horrifying. The sound was perfect in this. It was so scary. And also sound design goes with all the sound effects.

[00:09:15]The score of the movie I think was really good. Like all of that's really beautiful and haunting. Like it just it works perfectly with the movie and the story that it's telling. Now something I was really nervous about for the first part of this movie was the unlikable character. Adam Scott plays Bowman Bowman and he is horrible. He's a horrible person. Okay. He is very very unlikable. He's rude to everybody. I was nervous cuz it's like I love an unlikable character, don't get me wrong, but I was like am I going to root for him eventually? Like what where's the redemption arc here? Like where where's his arc is what I wanted. I I was hoping he wasn't going to be like a completely flat character because he would act like nothing is happening when something very intense is happening and he was very casual about it all. So I was like, "Okay." So one of my pick me film girl traits is that I love an unlikable character. I love when the main character is flat, goes nowhere, super unlikable, everything else is just happening around them. Love that. And I feel like often times it's misunderstood a little bit. And I love a misunderstood character. Okay. They're often my favorites in the story. One of the reasons why Ballad of Song Birds and Snakes is one of my favorite books in the Hunger Games franchise because I love Snow's flat arc in that book. Like, it is so good. And I love Snow as a character. And that's controversial, but I love a character like that. Snape.

[00:10:45]Obviously, Se Snape is a very famous unlikable character, but the the diff the thing is they have a past. Snow is a little bit less forgivable, I think, cuz he doesn't really have a past. Like, he there are things, but you know, it's not as obvious as Snape, you know? So, when it's done really well, I love an unlikable character. It has to be really done in a specific way and they do have to have some kind of history and we have to get to know them a little bit more personally for me to actually like them.

[00:11:13]So, I was nervous with Alm's character, with Adam Scott's character that we wouldn't get that because we didn't for a while. I'm like, wow, why is he such an Like, why what is going on?

[00:11:25]So, I prefer them to have a good origin as to why they're like that. And this movie did not disappoint me. So, at first I thought it was going to be a criticism that um he's a little unlikable. Yeah. And not in a good way, not in a fun way. And then they fixed all of that. Yes, they did. They fixed it with a good story. And I appreciated that. It was simple, um dark, but it explained enough for me to not be turned away or turned off by the fact he was so unlikable at first. I still don't love his character. Like, I don't love his personality even in the end and like his whole arc and everything. I'm not obsessed with it, but I like how it was executed. Ultimately, I was happy with it. So, let's get into some of my criticisms, I guess, of the movie and why I don't think it's a perfect movie and why it did not exceed my expectations or even meet my expectations. I was expecting a five-star movie. I'm not going to lie, that's a lot of pressure to put on a movie, but, you know, I just that was my my expectation going in. Sometimes you can't help but have that expectation as much as you try to like temper it and you know set realistic expectations. You just never know and sometimes you just can't help yourself. So for me I was very excited. Nothing about this said that it would be anything else than a fivestar movie but it was not in fact five stars. I don't know what it was about the first half of this movie when we're meeting all the side characters.

[00:12:47]We're being introduced to a lot of people. I was, it was a little messy for me and I wasn't really sure where we were going. And I feel like it it introduced so many people. They all were equally important. Like we all had side characters that were the same level of importance in the story. And I feel like there needs to be layers to it, but they all were up there with him. You know, I hope this makes sense in my critique for it and it doesn't sound like I'm nitpicking, but they were all so important. like as important as him. And so it felt really messy because we were jumping from one character to another.

[00:13:26]And yes, there's like story to like feed us through a little bit, but it almost felt like just like a way to introduce all of these people that are going to be very important for the story for the whole movie. I almost feel like there wasn't enough time to introduce that many important characters or enough time for us to like really differentiate between them or to really care about them, you know? So, it did feel a little bit messy in the beginning. And I will say it is on the slower side and that's not necessarily a bad thing. I don't like to say that that's a bad thing cuz people immediately go to like attention span brain rot. They like to throw that out if you say a movie is a little slow and it's like no I can watch a movie you know I do have brain rot but like I can watch a movie like I do it all the time so it can be slow in a certain type of way and for me it was a little slow in like how we're just like meeting all these people and I don't know I just kind of wanted there to be more and once the horror started going like we were going and there was a lot and I loved the horror but I just wish it kind of like got there a little quicker or got to the point faster. And I don't know, it was just like a very kind of messy movie in that way with like all the meeting of the people. I didn't really like the ending. It's kind of my last criticism to be honest. I didn't really like the ending. Um there was like a one line kind of like a throwaway. It it almost ruins the whole thing in a way because it's trying to like explain what could have possibly happened, but it's like that's almost as bad as like a dream sequence, you know? So, I don't know that that sounds really vague, but I'm trying to be vague on purpose. I didn't like the last scene. I don't know. I still I I still feel like when someone's so unlikable like his character, it's like, all right, we get it. So, I can't really talk about it in too much detail, of course, but just know I wasn't really a fan of the ending, especially the final scene. I don't know. It just I just feel like the movie in general, the way it's pieced together, feels a little bit messy and less like streamlined flow state through the story. You know what I mean? It's very much like chunky in the story, and I don't love that. So rating this movie is kind of hard because on just rewatchability and horror alone, I want to give it four out of five. So like I might lean towards that when it comes to my final ratings of the entire year when I actually go to like rank everything. It might get a four depending where other movies fall, you know. I think I have to do a four. I think I have to. I think I do because I can't. Originally, I was gonna do a 3.5, but there I just feel like it needs a four because it's just so rewatchable.

[00:16:15]It was so good. And I don't think the things that I had issue with or like that kind of, you know, were a negative aspect of the movie. I feel like those aren't those aren't enough for me to like bump it down to a three or a 3.5. I don't think so. I think I'm just gonna confidently give it a four because I think we should honestly be rating more movies based on entertainment value than just like like film critic hat on what can this movie improve upon because not all movies need to be viewed with that lens. And I don't want to view this movie in two different lenses. That doesn't seem fair because ultimately it's just me. Like that's just my opinion. So yeah, I'm going to say a four. four out of five is that was like a really long explanation for me to just give a rating, but I think looking at the year as a whole, it's going to be up there for me because of the horror. Like the horror alone is just so me. So like I have to give it a little bit of a higher rating and I could totally rewatch this every October, no problem.

[00:17:17]Um would be so entertained every time.

[00:17:19]Just in time. My red light burned out, so we're going to go. I would love to hear your thoughts on Hokum if you saw this in theaters. I think it's definitely worth a theater watch. So, if that's even a question, go see it in theaters because I love original horror.

[00:17:33]We need to support original horror, but also it is a fantastic movie. Like, entertainment wise, it's so good. So, please go watch it if you haven't. But also, please share a comment down below if you have sharing your opinion. What did you think about Hokum? And what is the next movie that you're excited for?

[00:17:49]Actually, don't answer that cuz I know it's going to be obsession and I am going to be reviewing that as soon as it comes out. So, keep your eyes peeled for that. But I hope you enjoyed this video and I will talk to you soon. Bye.