The first few minutes of “Hokum” might make you think you’re in the wrong movie. I certainly did. If you know anything about Damian McCarthy’s new horror movie, out Friday, it’s probably that it involves Adam Scott and a haunted Irish hotel. The setting is green and damp, a little chilly and full of antiquities that toe the line between charming and creepy. So why is the opening image that of an expansive desert sitting beneath a bright blue sky? And why is the first character you see a Spanish conquistador (Austin Amelio), in armor, with a little boy by his side and a map in his hand?
It’s an easy answer, but that doesn’t make it an especially satisfying choice. You see, Scott’s character, Ohm Bauman, is a novelist, a rather famous one, who is finishing his conquistador trilogy. The book, or at least how to finish it, looms over him on a trip to scatter his long-deceased parents’ ashes near the hotel in Ireland where they had their honeymoon. There is a kind of logical payoff to the conquistador story, but the disparate images of that setting haunts (and not in a good way) an otherwise very scary and very aesthetically coherent movie.
The conquistador isn’t the only problem with “Hokum,” the title of which may very well be a catch-all defense against anyone crying about story issues — it’s all just nonsense anyway! It’s just the most glaring, and doesn’t exactly help ease anyone into this journey with Ohm who is, how to say this delicately, an impossible jerk. Truly, Ohm is the kind of guy who is guaranteed to ruin anyone’s day, especially kindly service industry professionals who have no choice but to be civil. He is entitled, dismissive and will go out of his way to say something cruel and condescending when nothing at all would have sufficed.
Ohm quickly insults nearly every employee at this small hotel within moments of meeting them, except for the young, pretty bartender, Fiona (Florence Ordesh). Perhaps this is some lesson in the importance of human decency, as it is Fiona who turns up to help in his time of need. Ohm has demons of his own, but never have I been so eager for a haunting to begin. He’s like the “bad people” in the disaster movie who you’re not sad to see get sucked up by a tornado or eaten by a dinosaur. Except unlike the lawyer in “Jurassic Park,” Ohm is our main character, and we’re stuck with him (and that name) for the duration.
“Hokum” has so many of the right ingredients going for it. There’s a haunted honeymoon suite that the hotel’s owner (Brendan Conroy) keeps locked and closely monitored, and a service bell for the room that mysteriously rings occasionally. There’s folklore about a witch in the woods who terrorizes travelers, and a few creepy figurines to go along with the story. There’s a Halloween party and a missing employee. There are nightmares about a childhood tragedy. a terrifying children’s TV show host and secrets festering in surprising places. There’s a lot of Irish whiskey, some magic mushroom powder, a bearded van dweller ( David Wilmot ) who may or may not have killed his wife years ago, and even Chekhov’s crossbow. Not a lot is explained, just dangled, which might be annoying to some. Horror movies, however, rarely improve with elaborate explanations and blueprints.
But perhaps most importantly, there is mood and atmosphere and apparent vision, and enough jump scares to make you seriously reconsider whether a bag of popcorn is a good idea. You might even start to empathize with Ohm a little bit. But just a little bit. In this way, “Hokum” serves its purpose, nonsense and all.
“Hokum,” a Neon release in theaters Friday, is rated R by the Motion Picture Association for “violent, disturbing content and language.” Running time: 101 minutes. Two and a half stars out of four.
