Watching a new horror talent slowly creep into the mainstream has always been a curiously thrilling experience for me. Maybe because it was that I was obsessed with the established heavy hitters from the days of Capenter, Craven, Cronenberg and Co. during my formative years that I keep one eye on filmmakers as they scuttle up the ranks. One such up and coming fear-monger that caught my attention was Damian McCarthy thanks to a viewing of his magnificent, Shudder-based second movie, Oddity. Blending jumbled narrative, patiently building dread and a creepy sense eldritch folk-horror, it took me utterly by surprise and had me desperate to see what he was going to do next.
Well, what he’s done is Hokum, yet another serving of Irish folk horror that sees Adam Scott’s embittered author take a trip to an Irish hotel that certainly isn’t going to get glowing reviews from trip advisor. But if it’s going to get a glowing review from me, it’s going to have to try and work hard to catch me off guard now that I know what McCarthy is able to bring.
Writer Ohm Bauman is trying to finish off the last entry in a series of books that have made his name, but is finding himself leaning towards an increasingly bleak ending. It seems to have something to do with his current mindset as he’s been thinking a lot about the death of his mother and the subsequent shitty childhood that came along with it. In an attempt to dislodge some of that guilt and enotional weight, Ohm has decided to visit the hotel in Ireland where his folks spent their honeymoon in order to finally scatter their ashes in one place where they seemed to be truly happy before tragedy struck.
Arriving at the Billberry Woods Hotel, the rather cynical Ohm is soon buffeted by the ominous nature of the place and it’s eccentric (read: Irish) employees who seem to fit right in among the creepy statues and dense local folklore. Take the martial suite for example, that’s been closed and locked off for decades due to the fact that the owner is convinced that a witch had been trapped inside and haunts it ever since. But despite his rapidly souring demeanour, Ohm manages to spark up a rapport with hotel worker, Fiona, but has to leave when a shocking emergency rears its head out of nowhere.
Returning to the hotel in the aftermath, Ohm is stunned to discover that the night after his incident, Fiona vanished without a trace and after a chat with local, mushrooms absorbing derelict, Jerry, he discovers that the only place that wasn’t searched was the blocked off – and still very haunted – martial suite. Knocking up a plan to to break into the Billberry Woods Hotel on the off season to fully explore where the staff won’t, Ohm soon finds himself sealed up in the ominous room by himself. Being something of a rational man, he muses that starvation and thirst will be his biggest threats, but as the night creeps on, it becomes apparent that whatever evil infests that room, it has a taste for skeptical, anti-social authors with a traumatic history.
I have to say that sometimes there’s no substitute for surprise. Back when I saw Oddity, it’s mix of scrabbled narrative, Irish folklore and creeping chills took me by complete surprise as McCarthy sent us a twisted journey than constantly shifted gears and kept us thrillingly on the back foot. However, now that I know what to expect from the director, I was kind of ready for him this time which proved to be a slight disadvantage as Hokum sees him playing in a remarkably similar sandbox. While around 15% percent scarier and certainty 20% more Irish, Hokum sees McCarthy attempt the same tone using a lot of the same tricks as Oddity, but is now attacking his world with noticably more confidence.
Starting with the elaborate set up, which introduces us to the fact that our lead is something of a chronically depressed bully, you can tell that McCarthy is having a huge amount of fun detaining the sheer Irishness of the scenario while cramming the hotel with all the unnerving knick-nacks we’ve come to expect from the director. It builds a wonderful sense of atmosphere, especially when something of a shock twist leaves Ohm even more emotionally vulnerable than before – but once has performed the narrative gymnastics to lock our lead up in the haunted room, the film flicks tactics, essentially becoming an escape room mystery as we watch to see how the hell this poor bastard can possibly hope to save himself. Cue expertly timed jump scares, briefly glimpsed horrors in the dark and a healthy serving of hag horror once the scares fully take hold and it’s all made extra threatening despite the fact that Adam Scott should be used to negotiating strange rooms thanks to Severance.
Scott has kind of always been the bridesmaid but never the bride when it comes to horror appearances, constantly playing second fiddle whether it be fighting carnivorous, prehistoric fish (Piranha 3D), or helping Osgood Perkins locate his funnybone (his cameo in The Monkey), but watching him play something of misanthropic a-hole experiencing severe culture shock while struggling with demons both within and without proves to be a nice fit. His constant sense of bafflement and irritation works well when clashing with the seemingly affable Irish cast, but when McCarthy starts flexing his surreal horror muscles, seeing such a recognisable face assaulted by such bizarre imagery proves to be an absolute winner. Whether it’s enclosing him in suffocating spaces (a creaking dumb waiter features predominantly) or trying to find refuge from his witchy foe via the use of some handy chalk, the entire section that sees Ohm growing increasingly desperate while figuring out how to escape proves to be highly effective.
It’s when McCarthy attempts to explain some of it away that Hokum loses a bit of momentum as the butt puckering events of the night gives way to the more rational light of day as human villains start to make their presence felt in the wake of the witchy-poo scares – also, now that I’m aware of McCarthy’s game after Oddity, some of Hokum doesn’t prove to be quite so fresh as it’s predecessor. However, with that being said, there’s few horror directors operating today that has such a deft touch of leeching out the chuckles as it has you in a petrified state and I can’t think of anyone else who could have pulled off the facial expression of an eerie statuette on a clock delivering the biggest laugh of the film. And let’s not forget that unforgettable vision of a bizarre rabbit being that’s one part Mr. Rogers to two parts zombie Roger Rabbit… what the Hell, McCarthy?
While maybe not quite as revelatory as Oddity, Damien McCarthy shows that he’s still got the ability to blend zig zagging stories with legitimate, classic scares. Creepy old people, unnecessarily unnerving statuettes, disturbing folklore and a wry sense of Irish humour all ensure that the genuine scares are expertly delivered. As the patheon of cinematic witches gains yet another pallid, tombstone-toothed member, its good to discover that Hokum to be anything but…
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