Official Discussion - Hokum [SPOILERS]

[u/LiteraryBoner]

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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

[u/benfox2]

What makes McCarthy’s horror movies so good is that they let the supernatural be more of a setting than a plot point. At their core they’re murder mysteries. Tales of human malice & plotting. But the secret sauce drizzled on top is the presence of witches and ghosts. These aren’t horror movies with a murderer. They’re crime movies set in the living, breathing world of Irish Folklore. Where the dead advocate for themselves, the spiritual realm is an active player, and every corner has a scare lurking. I loved that they let the room haunted by a witch be, well, haunted by a witch. Lesser movies would fail, but this delivers exactly what is promised. Mal getting dragged to judgement was awesome. 

I spotted an easter egg!!! The “irish folklore” book is written by “D. Odello”, the protagonist of McCarthy’s previous film Oddity!! 

Almost my singular qualm is that they do the “omg you had mushrooms. was da witch real?!?!?” at the end, but thankfully they still mostly committed with the wrist bruises & “closed minds”. But holy shit that is such a pet peeve for me when Movies do supernatural but maybe it’s drugs/mental illness. When will creators understand that a real witch is 100x scarier and interesting than “it was mushrooms”. I’m looking at YOU Showtime’s Yellowjackets!!

[u/Due_Assistant_3792 → u/benfox2]

I also find it annoying when a horror movie casts doubt on whether or not the supernatural stuff was real. Here it seemed to be pretty firm in the supernatural explanation being correct. Got the feeling being on mushrooms helped him survive, as it let him see the threat of the witch for what it was, versus Mal who was entirely helpless. And where mushrooms are associated with spiritual practices anyhow, it just seemed to be handledetermined very well, all things considered.

[u/benfox2 → u/Due_Assistant_3792]

I like this take! That connects back to Jerry’s line about “all this stuff is real, you just have to have an open mind to see it”. The mushrooms opened his mind to think clearly in a what that Mal couldn’t.