In his first two feature films—Caveat in 2020 and Oddity in 2024—Damian McCarthy has proven himself to be a master of cursed objects and messed-up locations. Be it a dilapidated house with a weird bunny toy or a mental asylum and a wooden homunculus, his horror sets a mood and creeps you out. We already saw in the initial teaser of his new film, Hokum, the uncanny strangeness of a…horse…person. In the full trailer, we see Adam Scott contending with even more. Just loads and loads of scary crap in a haunted Irish hotel. The dream.
I truly can’t wait to see this, both because I love McCarthy’s previous work, and because I’m dying to know what the fuck is going on. With each movie, McCarthy’s scope has grown and this one looks just as off-putting and gloomy as the others, but with far more room for scary things. I’m especially excited to see Scott—one of my fave deadpan actors—losing his proverbial mind.
The synopsis of Hokum doesn’t add a ton of context, but it is as follows:
When novelist Ohm Bauman (Scott) retreats to a remote inn to scatter his parents’ ashes, he is consumed by tales of a witch haunting the honeymoon suite. Disturbing visions and a shocking disappearance force him to confront dark corners of his past.
I love me some Irish folklore and a witch in a honeymoon suite is absolute *chef’s kiss* to this here horror fan. Plus, we get to see the cursed bellhop bell from Oddity, which makes me happy. Cannot wait to see what nightmares befall Ohm (and us) in Hokum, which will hit theaters May 1.
Kyle Anderson is the Senior Editor for Nerdist. He hosts the weekly pop culture deep-dive podcast Laser Focus. You can find his film and TV reviews here. Follow him on Letterboxd.