Quartile rating: 7/10 · 1 rating
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. Disturbing visions and a shocking disappearance forces him to confront dark corners of his past.
Hokum assembles familiar folk horror ingredients — a grieving protagonist retreating to a remote rural inn, local witch legend, haunted suite, disturbing visions — without meaningfully distinguishing itself from the crowded post-Ari Aster/folk horror wave. The Irish rural setting and novelist-as-protagonist offer mild texture, but the plot leans heavily on genre conventions and the ending apparently fails to stick the landing, a common weakness in mid-tier folk horror. Acting and cinematography appear competent enough to support the atmosphere without elevating the material. Novelty suffers from the derivative assemblage of well-worn tropes. The ending scores low given the 6.9 average suggesting audience dissatisfaction likely concentrated there.