#horrors

"Hokum" (2026, Ireland, UAE, USA)

"Hokum" by Irishman Damian McCarthy is another film I watched about a month ago, but the aftertaste left a pleasant impression. The story of a writer seeking escape from childhood trauma through letters and alcohol has its own charm, which, though not new to pop culture, works like clockwork. I too succumbed to these, albeit very tragic, charms.

It's beautifully shot: picturesque forest landscapes, an authentic old hotel with its secrets and creaking floorboards, and the Irish cold that you can feel through the screen. It turned out to be an aesthetic folk horror, but not in the American style, rather in the British style, that is, with a share of charisma, mystery, and detachment despite the gravity of the tragedy being revealed.

In the US, folk horrors usually overuse darkness, the characters' insane grimaces, and the attempt to turn myths into a source of terror. There, legends are evil with a specific face, always thirsting for revenge and ready to tear you apart. These stories lack charisma or mystery, but have plenty of cruelty and indifference.
In British [and more broadly, European] folk horrors, in my opinion, mythology is presented as faceless evil, as some idea/fear that hangs in the air and sometimes gets under your skin. They don't hide in dark corners or try to attack from ambush; they simply exist. If you don't disturb them, they won't disturb you. Hence, British-European horror films in this subgenre look more elegant and not particularly scary.

That's exactly what "Hokum" is, which in atmosphere reminded me of the British "The Unholy", as well as "The Medium", which was directed by McCarthy himself.

What I find truly interesting is how well he manages to work with female themes. In "The Medium" he had main female characters through whom he explored everything, but in "Hokum" there is a shortage of female characters. However, it is precisely the attitude towards women that forms the main setup and resolution. Essentially, this is a very feminist film, in which Adam Scott is a kind of guide, on whose mistakes and guilt we are to learn.

"Hokum" is quite straightforward: it doesn't try to create a double bottom, but speaks in a clear language of decisions and their consequences. At first, it seems we are in for complicated metaphors, but then you realize that this horror is more of a detective story, then a drama, and only then a horror. Therefore, predictably, there is only one jumpscare, and even that is a stretch [only if you are scared by creepy masks]. But in my opinion, traditional genre techniques are not needed here. And there is just enough mystical flair and mystery as needed for this particular story to sound interesting and sincere.

#reviews