After Caveat and Oddity, it’s safe to say I have been waiting with baited breath for Damien McCarthy’s third feature.
Which comes in the form of Hokum, an Irish-set ghost story that follows Ohm Bauman (Adam Scott), a depressed author struggling to write the final part of an iconic literary series, as he travels to the hotel his parents once honeymooned at in Ireland. Of course, in typical McCarthy fashion, the hotel is actually home to a bizarre supernatural history that soon makes itself known once the misanthropic Ohm uncovers some of the area’s local history and folklore.
Hotels have long been a go-to setting for horror, probably most notably in The Shining, and I think there’s a good reason for that – hotels contain an odd and contrasting sense of transience and homeliness, marked by the many people who have passed through and everything they’ve left behind. McCarthy’s spectacular eye for set design and intricate props really gives the hotel at the centre of this story a lot of personality, and the decision to feature an American lead makes a lot of sense even against this Irish backdrop. This place is meant to feel impenetrable, in a way, and following an outsider into this culture and country positions the viewer at the outskirts of the story as much as Ohm is. While at first Ohm often feels like too much of an arsehole (or maybe, as a writer myself, I’m distinctly aware of the level of dickheadery people seem to expect from us), Scott taps into his natural charm and warmth to uncover a softer side over the course of the movie that feels earned rather than crammed-in.
Beyond just Scott’s (very strong) performance, though, the excellent supporting cast flesh out this place in a way that gives it real life. McCarthy has an eye for restraint with his character work, giving us just a sprinkling in a way that speaks to so much more – widower Jerry (David Wilmot) is as much a tragedy as he is a curio, and Florence Ordesh as Fiona, in her limited screentime, does a great job building sympathy without relying on schmaltz.
Hokum makes for an interesting third movie for McCarthy, touching on some of the same themes and stylistic elements as Oddity and Caveat – the remote setting, a building that feels increasingly labyrinthine as the story unfolds, a mix of real-life and supernatural horror. And make no mistake, there’s real horror here, as he crafts a second act that’s stomach-churningly discomforting in all the best possible ways – somehow, McCarthy takes a literal cackling witch as a villain and makes her feel genuinely petrifying, which seems like a pretty impressive skill in and of itself. But there are nods to bigger things here, fictional sequences set against the backdrop of a fantasy desert serving as the heart of Ohm’s personal arc, and I can only hope their a promise that McCarthy will take some more out-there swings in his future work.
If three is a pattern, then Hokum is proof that McCarthy is one of the most singularly skilled ghost story creators of the twenty-first century – creative, distinct, and detailed, I already can’t wait to be scared witless by the next one. What did you think of Hokum? Let me know in the comments below!
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By Lou MacGregor
(header image via Spotlight Report)
No But Listen 