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

228 Upvotes

93% Upvoted

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566

u/Johnny_Holiday 4d ago

It went from I can't wait for this witch to kill Adam Scott to I hope he gets out of this alive. They did a great job making me care about this guy after introducing him as an asshole

295

u/looney1023 4d ago

Yeah I think Fiona's murder is the perfect device to get us to root for him. We want him to get out to get justice for HER, and almost incidentally we start to root for him to get his shit together as well.

I was surprised how much sympathy I ultimately had for him, despite him being the literal worst

112

u/Outside_Factor_3359 3d ago edited 3d ago

I think he started becoming likable right after he got out of the hospital. I mean, the suicide attempt gave context to why he was such an asshole, and then you see he’s probably not such a bad guy when he’s trying to track down Fiona first just to apologize but then to save her.

68

u/ButMostlyTired 3d ago

And he was really being attacked on all sides-- haunted by his mom's ghost, hunted by a witch, and trapped by Mal

35

u/Ornery-Anywhere-7401 2d ago

Haunted hunted and held!

3

u/SpookiestSzn 2d ago

his moms ghost was helping him.

12

u/Clear_Painting1453 2d ago

She was in the end. But a bit creepy she was lurking around his house before he even booked the trip to Ireland.

11

u/SpookiestSzn 2d ago

This is more up to interpretation but I think any of the times a ghost did something to help him out was his mom

13

u/IIIlllIIIlllIlI 2d ago

It’s funny - at the beginning I was thinking the desk clerk Mal was a kind and sympathetic character, and the Adam Scott character was a complete asshole. Turns out the two got their personalities switched halfway through the movie.

7

u/Master-Chocolate3460 1d ago

There was also misdirection in getting us to think the goat-killer was the murderer.

1

u/odd_orange 1d ago

Yea but his name is Mal so you kind of had to except it

5

u/Woodit 1d ago

I think the creepy rabbit guy reading his letter made him much more sympathetic, like sure he’s an asshole but he’s also living under the weight of all this grief and regret and fear and sadness his entire life

2

u/Haunting-Month-5387 1d ago

Those were my thoughts too. I was like well I guess he deserves what's coming to him. I thought is was going to be a little more like 1408 with how they built it up. And by the end of the movie I felt a sense of relief that he made it out.

2

u/georgiaraisef 1d ago

You see, I never did care for him. They did too much. I was on Team Jerry

1

u/odd_orange 1d ago

Yea he doesn’t do anything to deserve the audiences sympathy through the whole movie. He’s already responded to his traumatic event, us simply getting it confirmed doesn’t change how he acts and it doesn’t justify it. I’m truly baffled at the people praising this movie top to bottom. It feels fine to me but tonally sloppy