03/05/26

Cineworld, Edinburgh

I emerge from Hokum thinking that this low-budget horror from Irish director, Damien MaCarthy, is aptly-titled. The term originated in American theatre in the early 20th century and is a combination of Hocus-Pocus and Bunkum. I have to say that the storyline here does not stand up to scrutiny – but nevertheless, I do find the result enjoyable, if occasionally confusing.

Ohm Baumann (Adam Scott, of Severance fame) is a successful author, currently putting the finishing touches to his bestselling ‘Conquistador ‘ trilogy. Indeed, the film begins with a short extract from the book’s planned ending, which could be best described as ‘flat.’ It’s also clear from early on that Ohm is being haunted by something from his past. Pretty soon, he’s left his native America and is driving through a remote part of Ireland, where’s he’s planning to visit the Bilberry Woods Inn, where his parents spent their honeymoon. He carries with him the ashes of said parents, which he is planning to scatter in the place where they were last happy. Next to a tree, apparently.

The hotel is one of those constructions that only exist in the minds of authors: dark, forbidding and peopled by a collection of odd balls that would have most travellers checking out without further delay – but Ohm is on a mission. He dutifully sprinkles the ashes of Mum and Dad, has an encounter in the woods with bearded weirdo, Jerry (David Wilmot), and then drinks a lot of whiskey whilst chatting to friendly bar steward, Fiona (Florence Ordesh). He outlines the ending of his new book to her, whereupon she charmingly tells him she won’t be reading it.

Mind you, Ohm is not the friendliest character himself, openly rude to pretty much everyone he meets and summarily insulting porter and wannabe author, Albie (Will O Connell), when he meekly suggests that Ohm might care to have a quick look at his manuscript. This kind of attitude is generally off-putting in a protagonist but somehow Scott manages to get away with it, eliciting laughs with his sneering comments.

But then there’s a dark development, after which Fiona goes missing – and Ohm becomes obsessed with finding out what happened to her…

Hokum does a decent job of generating an eerie and unsettling sense of dread throughout, though I do occasionally find myself wishing somebody would turn some lights on. The inn, of course, harbours an open secret: the Honeymoon Suite (where Ohm’s parents stayed) is permanently closed to the public, because it’s haunted by ‘a witch’. Naturally, Ohm needs to get in there in his search for Fiona. If you can buy this premise, you’ll have a good chance of enjoying the supernatural shenanigans that ensue, though I do have some trouble with the very complicated geography of the various rooms, corridors and lifts that comprise the suite – and I can’t be the only one who’s puzzled when Ohm suddenly appears to be wearing a set of manacles. A later reference to the fact that his whiskey has been spiked with magic mushrooms feels like an attempt to cover up what is more likely a continuity error after some scenes have been edited out.

And perhaps most damning of all, the incident that has been haunting our antihero from the start – doubtless intended to be something of a revelation – is too broadly signposted to come as a surprise.

Hokum is another addition to the many decent horror films currently gracing the multiplexes, but it’s not really up there with the likes of Weapons, a film which manages to generate real terror without feeling the need to dim the lights at every opportunity.

3.6 stars

Philip Caveney