Adam Scott Checks Into 'Hokum' at Haunted Irish Hotel
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- Damian McCarthy directs "Hokum," a supernatural horror set in an Irish hotel where Adam Scott plays American writer Ohm Bauman, finishing a popular book series about a conquistador with a bleak ending
- Adam Scott plays Ohm, a cynical skeptic whose deceased parents honeymooned at the hotel; the plot unfolds on Halloween and features a suicide attempt, a disappearance, and the long-off-limits honeymoon suite where the film's most effective scares occur
- The supporting cast includes Brendan Conroy as the elderly hotel owner, Peter Coonan as receptionist Mal, Will O'Connell as bellhop Alby, David Wilmot as van-dwelling vagabond Jerry, Michael Patric as the inn owner's son, and Florence Ordesh as bartender Fiona
- Colm Hogan serves as cinematographer and is praised for keeping Scott and the hotel's musty production design legible during extended passages in near-darkness, with production elements like an old bell and a basement dumbwaiter integral to the plot
- Reviewer finds "Hokum" an "overstuffed" mix of ghosts, dark magic practitioners, and a human villain with "nebulous" motives, though Scott's level-headed deadpan turn — playing an arrogant jerk — avoids turning him into a "scream king"
- McCarthy's prior horror features "Caveat" and "Oddity" are referenced, with the reviewer noting "Oddity" was a more focused exploration of unseen presences interacting with the mortal plane
Why it matters: For genre fans tracking McCarthy's trajectory after the more focused "Oddity," "Hokum's" mixed reception — praised for atmospheric timing and Scott's turn but called "convoluted" and "disjointed" — suggests the Irish filmmaker's signature visual scares remain intact, even as his storytelling ambition outpaces his ability to fold ghosts, witchcraft, and a human villain into a single coherent throughline.
