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Hokum

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Hokum

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• Horror
• Thriller

• 2026
• Damian McCarthy
• 107 mins
• 15

Summary

A horror writer visits an Irish inn to scatter his parents' ashes, unaware the property is said to be haunted by a witch. Starring Adam Scott, Peter Coonan and David Wilmot.

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Review

A star rating of 4 out of 5.

Jeremy Aspinall

This deliciously ominous tale of a tetchy, emotionally stilted writer staying at a remote hotel with a cursed past certainly has echoes of The Shining. However, director Damian Mc Carthy plays around with that premise with his slow-burning folk horror, which sees Adam Scott's American novelist Ohm Bauman checking in at the rural Irish inn where his late parents spent their honeymoon, ostensibly to scatter their ashes. After meeting banjaxed vagrant Jerry (a scene-stealing David Wilmot) in the woods, Bauman finds his curiosity piqued by the legend of a witch, and is only drawn in further following news of a disappearance at Halloween. Could the answers lie in the padlocked, "haunted" honeymoon suite? What unfurls is a marvellous melange of murder mystery, supernatural eeriness and confined-space terror, nimbly marshalled by a director comfortably at home with all things horror. The claustrophobic tension is maintained throughout, with plenty of left-field plot turns and jump scares thrown in for good measure. Meanwhile, Scott shines as a not especially likeable character, whose hellish descent into the unknown nevertheless remains utterly compelling.

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6.6/10

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Streaming

• Sky Store

Credits

Cast

rolenameOhm BaumanAdam ScottMalPeter CoonanJerryDavid WilmotConquistadorAustin AmelioBoyEzra CarlisleOhm's MotherMallory AdamsFergalMichael PatricAlbyWill O'ConnellJack (The Jackass)Will O'ConnellCobBrendan ConroyFionaFlorence Ordesh

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Crew

rolenameDirectorDamian McCarthyWriterDamian McCarthyProducerDerek DauchyProducerMairtín de BarraProducerJulianne FordeProducerRoy LeeComposerJoseph BisharaDirector of photographyColm HoganEditorBrian Philip DavisCastingEmma GunneryProduction designerTil Frohlich

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Details

Released on

2026-05-01

Languages

English

Guidance

Violence, swearing

Formats

Colour

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