Hokum
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Damian McCarthy
Written by	Damian McCarthy
Produced by	Roy Lee Steven Schneider Derek Dauchy Ruth Treacy Julianne Forde Mairtín de Barra
Starring	Adam Scott Peter Coonan David Wilmot Florence Ordesh Michael Patric Will O'Connell Brendan Conroy Austin Amelio
Cinematography	Colm Hogan
Edited by	Brian Philip Davis
Music by	Joseph Bishara
Production companies	Image Nation Abu Dhabi Team Thrives Spooky Pictures Tailored Films Cweature Features
Distributed by	Neon (United States) Black Bear Pictures (United Kingdom and Ireland)[1] Front Row Filmed Entertainment (United Arab Emirates)
Release dates	March 14, 2026 (2026-03-14) (SXSW) April 30, 2026 (2026-04-30) (United Arab Emirates) May 1, 2026 (2026-05-01) (United States, Ireland and United Kingdom)
Running time	107 minutes[2]
Countries	Ireland United Arab Emirates
Language	English
Box office	$900,000[3]

Hokum is a 2026 supernatural horror film written and directed by Damian McCarthy. The film stars Adam Scott as an author who travels to a hotel in Ireland, unaware that it may be haunted. Peter Coonan, David Wilmot, Florence Ordesh, Michael Patric, Will O'Connell, Brendan Conroy, and Austin Amelio appear in supporting roles. It is an international co-production between Ireland and the United Arab Emirates.

Hokum premiered at the 2026 South by Southwest Film & TV Festival on March 14, 2026, and was released in the United States by Neon on May 1, 2026. The film received positive reviews from critics, with praise for the story and McCarthy's direction.

Ohm Bauman is an author who is struggling to finish the epilogue of his successful Conquistador trilogy. After glimpsing the ghost of his mother at home, Ohm decides to visit The Bilberry Woods Hotel in rural Ireland where his parents had honeymooned to lay their ashes. Ohm meets the hotel staff: owner Cob, front desk clerk Mal, groundskeeper Fergal, bartender Fiona and bellhop Alby. Ohm is abrasive and dismissive towards them all but warms to Fiona who identifies the location of a photo his mother took. While spreading his parents' ashes, Ohm encounters Jerry, a local living in his van who frequently consumes milk laced with magic mushrooms.

Back at the hotel bar, Fiona and Alby tell Ohm about the honeymoon suite which is locked off and supposedly haunted by a witch that Cob had trapped inside. After humiliating Alby and his dreams of being a writer, Ohm returns to his room. Unsettled, Fiona checks on him and discovers Ohm has hanged himself. Ohm awakens in hospital days later, alive thanks to Fiona's intervention. When he returns to the hotel, he is informed by Mal that Fiona has been missing since the hotel's Halloween party and that Jerry is the prime suspect. Ohm confronts Jerry who claims that he saw Fiona’s ghost in the hotel one night directing him to the honeymoon suite.

With the hotel now closed for the season, Ohm and Jerry break in to investigate. Fergal apprehends and knocks unconscious Jerry before driving him to the Garda. Undetected, Ohm sneaks into the honeymoon suite. While inside he is haunted by supernatural visions of his mother where it is revealed he shot her dead by accident as a child. Mal arrives at the suite and retrieves Ohm. As they go to leave, Ohm inspects a dumbwaiter and discovers Fiona's corpse. Mal locks Ohm in the honeymoon suite and flees the hotel. Ohm finds a tape recorder on Fiona and learns that Fiona was pregnant with Mal's baby and was drugged and locked inside the suite by Mal to prevent his family finding out.

Jerry awakens in Fergal's van and jumps out before making his way back to the hotel. The hauntings intensify as Ohm struggles to find a way out of the suite. Spotting a fire escape on a map of the basement, Ohm descends down via the dumbwaiter. He encounters the witch and escapes back up to the suite where he fends her off with a protective circle of chalk. In the morning, Mal returns to the hotel to dispose of Ohm and is surprised to find Jerry trying to get into the honeymoon suite. He attempts to persuade Jerry to leave but Ohm manages to ring the suite bell alerting Jerry to his presence. Mal starts a fire in the hotel to cover his tracks before shooting Jerry dead with a crossbow as he enters the suite to rescue Ohm.

Ohm flees into the basement with the keys to the suite elevator, pursued by Mal. Mal finds the keys but is attacked by the witch who places chains on him and drags Mal to the underworld. Ohm makes peace with his mother’s ghost and removes his own chains before escaping the basement and honeymoon suite. As the hotel burns, Ohm collapses but is saved by Fergal.

Alby visits Ohm in hospital, telling him Fiona and Jerry's remains have been found but Mal is missing. Alby admits he spiked Ohm's flask with Jerry's mushroom milk after their argument and which Ohm had drank frequently from during his night in the suite. Ohm is startled while wounds on his wrists suggests the encounter with the witch was real. Ohm promises to read Alby's manuscript and finishes writing a more hopeful ending to his Conquistador book.

• Adam Scott as Ohm Bauman, an author
• Peter Coonan as Mal, the desk clerk and Cob's son-in-law
• David Wilmot as Jerry, a man living outside the hotel
• Florence Ordesh as Fiona, the bartender
• Michael Patric as Fergal, the groundskeeper
• Will O'Connell as Alby, the bellhop
  • O'Connell also portrays Jack the Jackass, a children's show character
• Brendan Conroy as Cob, the owner of the hotel and Mal's father-in-law
• Austin Amelio as the Conquistador, the lead character of Ohm's novel
• Mallory Adams as Delia Bauman, Ohm's mother
• Sioux Carroll as the witch, a supernatural entity believed to reside in the hotel
• Ezra Carlisle as the boy, a child who accompanies the Conquistador in Ohm's novel

The film is written and directed by Damian McCarthy. It is produced by Image Nation, Tailored Films and Spooky Pictures with producers including Roy Lee and Steven Schneider as well as Derek Dauchy, Ruth Treacy, Julianne Forde and Mairtín de Barra. It has support from Screen Ireland. The cast is led by Adam Scott, and also includes Peter Coonan and David Wilmot.^[4]

Principal photography took place in West Cork in Ireland in February and March 2025.^[5]

In August 2025, Neon acquired worldwide rights to the film, handling international sales at the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival.^[6] Hokum premiered at the SXSW on March 14, 2026,^[7] and it was theatrically released in the United States on May 1, 2026.^[8][9] Front Row Filmed Entertainment released the film a day prior in the Middle East on April 30.^[10]

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 87% of 120 critics' reviews are positive. The website's consensus reads: "A classic haunted house story enriched with atmospheric folklore and perfectly-timed shocks, Hokum further solidifies writer-director Damian McCarthy as a modern master of horror."^[11] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 78 out of 100, based on 28 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.^[12] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film a "B" on an A+ to F scale.^[13]

• Hokum at IMDb