The Irish woods are dark and deep in everything Damian McCarthy has written and directed, following a terrifying tradition of depicting isolated homes, and buildings -- possessing terrible secrets, curses, and presences. Natch, the Irish Tourism Board may ask McCarthy to start setting his films elsewhere!
From **CAVEAT** to **ODDITY**, and now **HOKUM**, McCarthy succeeds presenting unnerving atmosphere for his protagonists -- especially for those who have it coming.
In **HOKUM**, Adam Scott plays a troubled, misanthropic author Ohm Bauman, an American who makes a pilgrimage to an isolated, gothic hotel in Ireland (where his parents went on their honeymoon) to scatter their ashes.
There, Ohm discovers that the locals who work at the hotel carry an unhealthy belief in superstitions, principally that the owner has successfully trapped a Cailleach -- ie, a "witch" in the Honeymoon Suite.
Amused by the hotel's off-limits Honeymoon Suite—the source of the film's title—Ohm cannot resist investigating for himself. What follows may initially recall **1408** or **SESSION 9**, albeit filtered through an unmistakably Irish folk-horror sensibility. As Ohm's curiosity deepens, so too does the audience's fixation on whatever may—or may not—be lurking within those storied chambers. Or is it all, as he scoffs, merely "hokum"?
Like his excellent **ODDITY**, McCarthy wrings terror from atmosphere alone, transforming dark hotel rooms and dimly lit corridors into spaces of mounting dread. Scott's performance proves essential to the film's success, grounding Ohm's skepticism, arrogance, and unraveling sanity with just the right balance of wit and unease.
As a suspense thriller, **HOKUM** is one of McCarthy's best yet, deserving of its Big Screen release, and I can't wait to see what he does next.