Hotels and motels have been a mother lode for horror films if you think only of Psycho. However, a new smart horror thriller is Hokum, set in a remote Irish hotel, visited by a writer, Ohm Bauman, as he visits to scatter his parents’ ashes.
Although Ohm does not know the Hotel may be haunted by a witch, he soon learns of strange occurrences and objects leading to a challenge as the audience figures whether or not the place is haunted. A central motif is the old dumb waiter that transports even corpses including the locked bridal suite where his parents may have once stayed.
The smartness of this tale is how many hangups Ohm hasvlike his responsibility for his mother’s death. As to whether or not she is embodied in the witch is a possibility even though the writer/director Damien McCarthy keeps the aud in exciting darkness.
The plot unfolds smartly and vigorously, satisfying hard-core horror freaks and regular cinema lovers. Along the allegorical way are comments on guilt and loss and appearance and reality, the guilt landing squarely on the shoulders of the writer protagonist.
Hokum is not frivolous; on the contrary it exposes the uncertainty resting underneath our clueless egos. Actor Adam Scott is coldly perfect to represent us all.