Hokum is a movie that I had been meaning to get to for a while, but I missed its theatrical run due to seeing other movies at the time it was released. Well, I saw that I could watch it via streaming, so I did, and honestly, I was disappointed. I thought that the trailer for this looked fantastic, I like Adam Scott, and I was pretty sure that this was going to be a movie I really enjoyed. To be fair, I did not hate it, but I certainly did not love it either.
Where to Watch Hokum
Hokum was released on May 1, 2026. You can stream the film from a digital platform such as Apple TV or Amazon Prime Video.
The Movie Review
Premise & Director Background
Written and directed by Damian McCarthy, who has a couple of solid titles to his name in Caveat and Oddity. Hokum has a cool Irish setting, and that was one of the things that interested me about it. I watched the trailer, read the descriptions for the movie, and thought that I was in for a kind of folk horror type thing about an Irish witch, and that sounded awesome to me.
Opening Scene & Ghostly Encounters
Adam Scott plays the role of a writer called Ohm Bauman. Ohm is trying to figure out the ending to a popular series of books he has, and he sees the ghost of his mother. Now, this opening scene is really well done as we see him at the computer working on his book, but we also get to see the book he is writing actually happen, and Dwight from The Walking Dead is one of the characters here, and that is something I thought was cool.
Journey to Lay Ashes in Ireland
As you would expect, seeing this ghost freaks him out, and Ohm decides to take a trip to Ireland to lay the ashes of his mother and father to rest at the place they honeymooned back when they were younger. The caring way he lays his mother’s ashes and then the rather aggressive way he does his father’s, gives you a bit of insight into him, which I thought was well done.
The Bilberry Heads Hotel Witch Legend
Ohm heads to The Bilberry Heads Hotel. This is an old-style hotel, and he meets the owner, the caretaker, and he strikes up a conversation with the barmaid, Fiona. Fiona tells Ohm that the honeymoon suit is locked up as it is haunted! Not just any haunting, the story is that the owner of the hotel caught a witch, and he has her locked up in there, and only he has the key.
Middle Act Pacing & Unlikable Lead
This all happens in the opening act, and I was in, I was sold on this story, and I needed to know more, but the movie really went downhill after this for me. This is a very slow burn kind of movie, and usually I am ok with that, but the whole middle act of the movie did not click with me at all. Ohm is a straight up asshole and not likable at all, and while it is somewhat interesting finding out about his past. I did not actually care if he survived or not.
Final Verdict & Disappointing Climax
I will admit, the whole, is this place really haunted and is there a witch, did have me interested, but I still found myself pretty bored while watching it. The final act does have one very cool scene, but I would not say that it was worth sitting through the whole middle portion of the movie for. To be fair, I have read that a lot of people really enjoyed this movie, so this could have been a case where it simply was not for me. However, I am pretty sure I will not be interested in checking this one out again.
