Adam Scott stars in 'Hokum', a haunted hotel horror film set in the enchanting woodlands of Ireland. The movie opens with a desert scene, which is a surprising departure from the expected Irish setting. The story follows Ohm Bauman, a successful American novelist struggling with the epilogue for his series, 'The Conquistador Trilogy'. Ohm travels to Ireland to scatter his parents' ashes and stays at the Billberry Woods Hotel, where he encounters a series of eerie events and a vengeful ghost.
One thing that immediately stands out is the film's inability to adequately explain the underlying mystery. The writer-director, Damian McCarthy, piles on story points and portentous symbols, but fails to elucidate the mystery. This is a non-negotiable rule for any horror hotelier who wants a decent Yelp rating. The film's framing device is cumbersome and superfluous, and the loose threads in the plot are frustrating. Personally, I think the film's lack of clarity is a major drawback, and it's a shame that the potential for a compelling story was not fully realized.
The film's pace is decent, and the tension is effectively built as murky deeds come to light. Scott is appropriately rattled and desperate, and the production designer's creepy hotel set is a standout feature. However, the film is low on scares and the lines separating an ancient evil from a sordid but disappointingly non-supernatural crime are blurred. The film's allegorical reference to Ohm and his childhood trauma is sketchy at best, and the return to the conquistador in the desert is pointless.
In my opinion, the film's biggest issue is its inability to adequately explain the underlying mystery. The film's framing device is cumbersome and superfluous, and the loose threads in the plot are frustrating. The film's pace is decent, but the lack of scares and clarity is a major drawback. The production designer's creepy hotel set is a standout feature, but the film's overall execution is disappointing. What many people don't realize is that the film's potential for a compelling story was not fully realized, and the result is a film that is neither completely ho-hum nor wholly satisfying.
