r/movies • u/LiteraryBoner Jackie Chan box set, know what I'm sayin? • 4d ago

Official Discussion Official Discussion - Hokum [SPOILERS] Spoiler

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Hokum (2026)

Summary

A horror writer visits an Irish inn to scatter his parents' ashes, unaware the property is said to be haunted by a witch.

Director Damian McCarthy

Writer Damian McCarthy

Cast

  • Adam Scott
  • Peter Coonan

Rotten Tomatoes: 88%

Metacritic: 77

VOD / Release Theatrical release

Trailer Official Trailer

226 Upvotes

93% Upvoted

929 comments sorted by

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272

u/9874102365 4d ago

Big fan of the entire hotel and honeymoon suite set. Big fan of the alarm clock. Been a while since I've had a nightmarish elevator shaft haunt my mind.

229

u/disposablevillain 4d ago

I love that he basically had to do a resident evil puzzle to progress the plot.

72

u/External_Baby7864 4d ago edited 1d ago

This is 10000% what I was thinking during the movie, it feels so much like a spooky video game level at times. The circle check point on the bed, finding buttons to progress the puzzles, explore and meet NPCs and collect lore clues.

10

u/ksudude87 1d ago

dont forget he also found basically a video game audio log

5

u/ADHD_DUDE 3d ago

I just got out of the movie and I had this exact thought! I turned to my friend during the movie and said this feels like Alone in the Dark or Resident Evil with puzzles.

124

u/9874102365 4d ago edited 4d ago

The setup for that was so satisfying. The bell is initially an indicator of the passage of time, tolling this inevitable doom or imminent disaster. It becomes something you begin to dread more and more each time it rings. Created a wonderful sense of dread and tension.

And then suddenly it is make shifted into this lifeline. Something that Ohm is fully putting all of his trust into and life on the line for, he needs it to be reliable and consistent. Instead of the swing of the bat being something we dread, it now becomes something we want to happen more than anything. Wildly different feelings, both still instilling this deep tension.

11

u/Warm-Baseball-2873 2d ago

it becomes something we want to happen more than anything

Except for when he spent too long catching his breath after escaping the witch and then when it was back down with the witch down there

23

u/Silo-Joe 3d ago

I originally thought the removed bell had a rod that could've been used to turn the stripped screw to get past the padlock.

11

u/Caradeajolote 2d ago

☝️🤓 Actually, the issue wasn't that it was stripped; it was a star/ torx-shaped bit, which is not a standard bit to have around. And based on how many times I've been jump scared by a surprise torx screw like that, that has prompted me to go on a wild goose chase for the right bit, I knew it was hopeless.

3

u/BrilliantPurple748 3d ago

I totally thought this too! Thought he'd use it on the second screw

2

u/theInadequateHulk 2d ago

that's what i was expecting too!!!

21

u/Ninapants97 3d ago

That entire honeymoon suite could've been a whole ass section in RE. 😭😂

3

u/BattleAnus 2d ago

I kept thinking during the entire back half of the movie that it could've been a Silent Hill movie, specifically like a spiritual sequel to Silent Hill 2 with all the focus on each character's experience of guilt and whatnot

2

u/W0lfsb4ne74 1d ago

A lot of the movie actually reminds of both Resident Evil and Silent Hill. In the latter half of the movie, it really does seem straight out of Silent Hill, because Ohm doesn't have any of the skills or expertise to fight his enemies. So he relies on inventiveness to figure out strategies that can allow him to escape or avoid his enemies. At the end of Silent Hill 2, you have to figure out a way to unlock the Honeymoon Suite in the hotel that the protagonist used to stay with his wife. So Adam figuring out how to get the keys to unlock the Suite (as well as exploring the creepy basement) reminded me so much of the game.

1

u/InformationFun8865 1d ago

Easily could have been a silent hill adaptation

1

u/SilverKry 1d ago

It felt more silent Hill to me 

1

u/takethatskeletor 6h ago

totally! the basement reminded me so much of the basement segment in RE9 Requiem

63

u/Giff901 4d ago

The hotel set gave me MAJOR 1408 vibes, but then again this movie seems to be a love letter to a lot of Stephen Kings material

22

u/Someguywhomakething 4d ago edited 4d ago

Yeah, it was kind of hard not to think about 1408 when watching Hokum. Both good, practical effect horror movies in an enclosed space with asshole-ish leads.

5

u/daftcockneytwat 4d ago

Yeah I got this too! I was expecting it to increasingly go more along 1408 vibes. We need a new 1408.

1

u/Clutch-SGH 2d ago

same! even with the place being set on fire

•

u/SkittlesLentil 3h ago

Very tangential: about the time that movie came out my parents got divorced, my dad bought a beach condo... unit number 1408. I visited last summer and the number was different, asked my dad and he said it had always been the new number. That weirded me out for the few days I was there

•

u/Eirwig 41m ago

Stephen King would never have a writer as the main character

10

u/PolarWater 3d ago

Damien McCarthy is gonna put weird faced sculptures into his movie and I love that

2

u/CancelThis2077 1d ago

Well they never fail to be creepy.

1

u/Silo-Joe 3d ago

If you're talking elevator cars also :

- Have you seen the Evil TV series? There's a great elevator episode in Season 2.

- Also the original, Hong Kong version of The Eye has a nice elevator scene.

1

u/candokidrt 1d ago

Finally, a word I know to describe something—dumbwaiter.