If getting the crap scared out of you is what you seek in a horror movie, look no further than the works of Damian McCarthy. His debut, 2020’s Caveat, is a low-budget but high-terror exploration of some deeply awful things lurking on a remote island. In 2024, he made Oddity, a blend of folk horror and supernatural murder mystery that again made excellent use of an eerie, isolated location.
Hokum—the Irish writer-director’s highest-profile film to date, with Severance star Adam Scott leading the cast—looks like yet another big step up for the talented writer-director. The creepy new trailer suggests audiences and the main character alike will be screaming their way through this one.
“When novelist Ohm Bauman retreats to a remote inn to scatter his parents’ ashes, he is consumed by tales of a witch haunting the honeymoon suite,” the official synopsis reads. “Disturbing visions and a shocking disappearance force him to confront dark corners of his past.”
So we have a fish-out-of-water tale, with an American retracing the steps of his late parents to a hotel in rural Ireland where “oddballs” roam and dark history continues to infect the present. So far, so very folk horror. Then we get a missing person—are they really missing, or just Wicker Man missing?—and Scott’s lantern-toting character being drawn into a sinister puzzle that might be more personal than he realizes. Plus: chalk circles, creepy masks, and a horrifying face breaking through TV static.
Frankly, the only thing we don’t like about this is that the movie isn’t out right now. But the wait to refresh your nightmares isn’t long: Hokum arrives in theaters May 1.
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