“Fado. Fado. Long, long ago, deep in the woods there was a small stone hut. And inside the stone hut there lived an old Cailleach, a witch. Preying upon the lost, the evil old crone would first put the doomed travelers under her spell, leaving them as dazzled and vulnerable as lamplit game. The witch would shackle her stunned prey before taking them on a tour of the underworld. And sometimes a hand or a claw would reach out from the dark and tear a piece from these at the end of her chain. Pluck out an eye. Peel off an ear. And sometimes they took something from a little boy that was more valuable to him than his eyes or his ears. Any guesses which part of you that might be?”
That’s just the perfect start for the latest folk horror story from the writer/director of Oddity and the lesser Caveat. Of course, I’m talking about young writer/director Damien McCarthy. He seems to have a thing for one-word titles, because his latest scare comes in the form of Hokum out on UHD Blu-ray and 4K from Neon and Alliance Entertainment. It’s a refreshing effort that delivers a nice story complete with the kind of atmosphere that pulls you into the dark tale. He doesn’t fall to the temptation of the cheating jump scare, and the result is well-worth the pick-up. Don’t stream this thing. Get the UHD disc and immerse yourself in a old fashioned atmospheric ghost/witch story. You’ll thank me later. Cash is OK.
Ohm Bauman (Scott) is a writer. There are more than a few allusions to Stephen King here, and why not? He’s become the prototype writer even in his own works. Ohm is in Ireland, but it’s not really for a vacation. His parents have been dead for some time, and he’s been sitting on the ashes, not sure exactly what to do with them. He’s also under a bit of pressure. He’s trying to put an ending on his latest book, which is a long-anticipated final novel to his “Conquistador” trilogy. He discovers of photograph of his mother posing by a “favorite” “redwood tree at the hotel in Ireland where they spent their honeymoon many years ago. So he decided to travel to the quaint village hotel and kill two birds with one stone. Let’s just say he’s got the killing part down pat.
“The best thing you can do now is get into your car and off to the airport while you still look like your passport picture.”
From the moment he checks in he’s rather rude and brusque with the staff. He refuses to sign the desk manager’s child’s copy of one of his books, and he goes so far to burn the hand of a bell boy, Alby (O’Connell) for asking him to read his manuscript. It seems the closest thing to friends he makes here is a young bartender named Fiona (Ordesh) to whom he tells his plans for the ending of the book. He also encounters a guy in the woods named Jerry (Wilmot), who offers him a flask and is partial to goat’s milk laced with “special” mushroom powder. He suffers a rather sudden and tragic experience that I won’t spoil here. Let’s just say it leads to him being away from the hotel for several weeks. Upon his return he discovers that Fiona disappeared the day after his “problem” along with Jerry. The popular theory is that Jerry took her and likely killed her. Ohm actually starts to feel and act like a human being and expresses concern for the vanishings and wants to help. Only the staff remaining (the hotel is shutting down for the off-season) are quite hostile toward him, basically threatening him if he just doesn’t drop it and leave.
His first thoughts lead him back to the day he checked in. You see, the Honeymoon Suite has been locked away for decades. The owner, Mr. Cobb (Conroy) believes that he’s trapped a powerful witch up there, and he allows no one to open the elevator gate that leads to the suite, keeping careful watch on the key and inspecting the gate frequently. Ohm is starting to think it may be related to what happened to Fiona. When he tracks down Jerry hiding from the law, they decide to wait until night when the hotel is locked up to sneak in and explore that suite. He manages to lift the keys from the staff. Eventually Ohm finds himself locked in the haunted suite. It’s here about halfway through the film that the movie makes the transition to the atmospheric ghost/witch story that you were likely waiting to happen.
It’s here that the film truly delivers. Without taking the jump-scare shortcuts or the manic manifestations to try and force the frights out of you, it uses that much-spoken-about atmosphere and the attention to the smallest details. You have to keep paying attention, because some of this is subtle, and if you blink at the wrong time you missed a clever building horror. There are flashbacks from Ohm that give us some insight into a huge guilt he carries, and the weight ties into the story. I absolutely loved a pretty cool scene here. He sees a snowy picture on an old television of a demonic kids’ show hosted by a donkey named Jack. It brings those snippets of backstory together in a truly creepy yet highly enjoyable scene. I rewound to see it a second time. I don’t often do that for fear of breaking the spell, but McCarthy does such a great job of it here that I never missed a beat. All of the answers are going to be found in that room, and there are people as evil as any entity Ohm encounters that don’t want certain truths to get out of that suite. Mal (Coonan) is the most suspicious of that gang. So the scares don’t just come from a single source. Mal isn’t afraid of a little murder, and the witch (Carroll) is absolutely a threat. But maybe the ghost might be on Ohm’s side. You’ll have to decide that for yourself.
The film begins with a “movie in Ohm’s head” playout of the ending he’s struggling to write. We find an old Spanish Conquistador (Amelio) with a young boy (Carlisle) as the pair are stranded in a huge desert on a quest for something big. These are obviously the main characters of his trilogy, and at first I found their inclusion a bit of an intrusion. I softened eventually, because his two solutions end up reflecting a state of mind that evolves in the film, and this plays a big part in the Ohm’s own redemption story. It also serves a stark contrast with this bright orange-sand desert to the near-complete darkness of the hotel, particularly the infamous Honeymoon Suite.
The highlight of the film is an outstanding performance by Adam Scott, his best performance to date. This is not the same kind of thing you got in Parks And Recreation or Severance. This is a nuanced character with more layers than he’s ever played before. He has to be the face that sells these scares, because there are no cheats or shortcuts here. He does so convincingly. He anchors the film so that we can completely experience the horror stuff.
Video
Hokum is presented in its original aspect ratio of 2.39:1. The ultra-high-definition 2160p image is arrived at by a strong HEVC codec with an average bitrate of 85 mbps. The ultra-high-definition image presentation immerses you fully into this solid atmospheric movie. There’s no Dolby Vision, but a solid HDR-10, and it does a rather nice job of delivering the goods. Much of the film takes place in near total darkness with lighting being provided by source lighting only in places. You get solid shadow definition, and there are some near-perfect moments. When you see the witch’s face against the dark dumbwaiter shaft, it’s that classic kind of scare that works by sending some nice goosebumps your way. You see everything McCarthy intends for you to see, and in the level of detail he intends for you to experience. There’s a nice contrast to the dark hotel material when we follow Ohm’s characters in the bright desert with a solid orange sand and a sun that is literally afire with enough brightness to make you squint. It’s a solid image presentation with source material that is native 4K and using a 4K digital intermediate.
Audio
The DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track gets the job done. Yeah, a Dolby Atmos track would have been nice, but I fail to see that there would be a drastic improvement. The surrounds aren’t aggressive, but they are used to great effect by bringing you the subtle but atmospheric wails and moans of our resident haunts. I like that you don’t get hit over the head here but are allowed to experience it in a far more haunting way. The dialog cuts just fine. The score doesn’t really dominate, but it sets the mood without intruding at all. It’s enough to grab and demand your full attention. This isn’t one of those multi-task movies. If you want to truly feel it, you have to give it your undivided attention. So put down the cellphone and watch the film, unless, of course you’re watching it on your phone, in which case you’re wasting your time.
Special Features
The extras are found on each disc with an audio commentary by writer director McCarthy.
The Making Of Hokum: (15:47) This is your typical behind-the-scenes feature that covers a lot of ground from sets to make-up f/x. The cast and crew provide the usual insights, and there’s a ton of information to be found here. McCarthy dominates with his vision and talks about how this fits in with his other films.
Jack The Donkey, A Family Favorite: (2:02) I told you about the demonic television bit that I went back to watch again. I didn’t have to do that. It’s provided here with better resolution, since it comes from a snowy television image during the film.
Final Thoughts:
I missed the film when it had its box office run. We never got any kind of a press screening, and I have more often than not found that to mean there wasn’t a ton of confidence in the film. I didn’t expect much here. I love it when I’m wrong about that. In this business you can be dead wrong when you think you know what you’re going to expect. Of course, no matter how much you love or hate a movie, someone’s going to tell you you’ve got it wrong. I can take it. “You need thicker skin than that if you want to be a writer.”
