Hokum (2026)

Stuck on the final chapter of his bestselling Conquistador trilogy, American writer Ohm Bauman (Adam Scott) decides now is the time to head to Ireland to the hotel where his late parents spent their honeymoon.

The idea being that once there he can find the tree that was particularly special to his beloved mother and scatter their ashes amongst its roots.

Arriving at the isolated and instantly creepy Bilberry Woods Hotel, Ohm learns that the honeymoon suite has been locked and barred for years as local legend has it that a witch is trapped in there.

The writer dismisses this as "hokum" and is generally a complete arsehole to most of the staff, arrogant, self-centred and patronising.

However, it turns out this is masking a deep depression; luckily the sensitive barmaid Fiona (Florence Ordesh) realises something is wrong when she goes to his room to return personal items he'd left in the bar after an evening of heavy drinking.

She rescues him from an attempted suicide and the troubled writer is sent to the local hospital to recuperate.

Weeks later, Ohm returns to the hotel to collect his possessions and thank his saviour - only to discover that Fiona has gone missing. He is told, candidly, that the police believe she was kidnapped and killed by the local rough sleeper, Jerry (David Wilmot).

Because she saved his life, Ohm - who is now, almost, a changed man - becomes determined to get involved in the hunt for Fiona, despite the protestations of the hotel manager, Mal (Peter Coonan).

After his stellar performances in the great horror Krampus and, of course, the mind-bending Apple TV tentpole show Severance, I was excited to see Parks and Recreation star Adam Scott - another of my favourite actors -  in a new horror flick.

The incredibly well-crafted script, written by the film's director Damian McCarthy, does a splendid job of manoeuvring Scott's character believably to where he needs to be, in just the right circumstances, but my issue with Hokum is less technical and more mundane.

It very quickly becomes clear that while Ohm is 'haunted' by ghosts of his own, especially concerning the traumatic death of his mother, the central mystery he becomes entangled in is an almost stereotypically sordid, very human, whodunnit.

The supernatural elements of Hokum are thus largely incidental - although often on the dramatic side - barriers to slow down his amateur investigation. 

So, despite Adam Scott's strong performance, and the superb supporting cast, the story was very disappointing for me as I'd come for the ghosts and ghoulies. Sure, they were there, but they almost felt like an afterthought. To be fair, there's several decent "spooky things going on in the background" shots of the kind I always appreciate.

However, a final scene, with Ohm back in the hospital, suggests that - maybe - all the weird stuff Ohm witnessed could have been in his head anyway.

At around 107 minutes, Hokum is too long for the story it has to tell - even with all the character-building sub-plots - and there's definitely a sense of repetition as the tale unfolds. 

Honestly, it could probably have been trimmed down to an hour-long episode of the Twilight Zone or even a half-hour Inside No. 9 and told the same story with more concentrated impact.