By Dustin Cormier
A troubled alcoholic writer must survive the uncanny spirits of a remote hotel, encapsulated by its signature haunted room, during its off-season, leading him down a journey in which he can either overcome his demons or succumb to them.
While the themes and source material of Hokum (2026), written and directed by Damien Mc Carthy, aren’t anything modern horror audiences haven’t seen or heard before, the way in which the medium is presented creates a profoundly unique and terrifying viewing experience.
Ohm Bauman (Adam Scott), after attempting to hang himself due to his unresolved grief and trauma over an accidental shooting incident with his mother, returns to the hotel he’s resided at to spread his parents ashes. He agrees to follow the local van dweller, Jerry (David Wilmot), up to the honeymoon suite in hopes of finding Fiona (Florence Odesh), the worker who saved his life, after she goes missing that night. However, after Jerry is caught and Ohm discovers Fiona’s body in the dumbwaiter, Ohm is trapped by the hotel manager, Mal (Peter Coonan), forcing him to find escape and escape the night as supernatural forces attempt to take his life. The thematic core of the film centers itself around Ohm’s unresolved childhood trauma and how it is and has been eroding at his psyche over time, presenting itself in three major ways throughout the film.
Ohm’s Drinking and the Cycle of Grief.
Never going a night without whiskey, whether it be through the flask in his coat pocket, empty cup at his writing desk, or nights alone at bars rambling on about his book to anyone who will listen, Ohm is in a perpetual state of attempting to drown out his guilt and shame with the bottle. Moreover, it has become his coping mechanism in times of need. When the reality that he has been trapped in a suite with a witch sets in, Ohm sits alone and drinks from his flask whenever a threat isn’t present. When he is subconsciously encountering his child-like self in his writing (more on this later) and is about to beat him to death with a bottle, Ohm drinks to prevent himself from feeling disparity of the scene.
But this is nothing new to his character, in fact, it has been taught to him by his late father. In a scene with Fiona by the bar, Ohm speaks about his fathers nature after the incident between him and his mother. “Oh, well he turned into a monster and drank himself into an early grave.” Thus, creating Ohm’s cyclical nature.
In Ohm’s novel, a conquistador and a little boy set out to find a great treasure together. In their scenes, the conquistador drinks and drinks from their flask, leaving nothing left for the little boy to survive on. Then, in what is a little on the nose, the conquistador must break the bottle in order to place a type of dust into it. How does he wish to break the bottle? Well, when there are no rocks, the little boy’s head, painting Ohm’s father as not only an absent-minded alcoholic, but as an abusive terror Ohm is still haunted by.
When he encounters another young writer, the bellboy Alby (Will O’Connell), who says he relates to Ohm’s characters, who are written based around Ohm, what does he do after a night of drinking? He belittles Alby and abuses him by burning his hand.
However, differing from its inspiration, the film uses Ohm’s trials and terrors at the hotel to show him his flaws and have him grow from them. Ohm recognizes this cycle and, knowing that only he can break it, reconciles with Alby, the bellboy, offering to read his script for him. Moreover, in rewriting his ending, Ohm’s healed psyche reveals itself on the page. The conquistador gives the boy the bottle, offering him the chance to kill him and take the treasure. But, in the end, the boy throws away the bottle, and hugs the conquistador, Ohm’s way of forgiving his father for what he has done, and letting go of the past, breaking the cycle of grief his father set out for him.
The Interpersonal Theory of Suicide
While Ohm’s attempted suicide can, at first, seem to be disregarded by the plot, the journey Ohm takes throughout his night at the hotel is one that heals the root that created the branch of his attempt. But, more importantly, the film gives real reason for Ohm’s attempt on his life beyond him being cyclical and depressed, by showing us how he got into this state, through subtle layering throughout the story.
The script takes us through the steps of Dr. Thomas Joiner’s Interpersonal Theory of Suicide, allowing us to better spot those in need of help, even though they exhibit none of the stereotypical signs.
1. Thwarted Belongingness. Ohm is repeatedly alone throughout the film. In his home, Mc Carthy uses the wide angle lens to not only show the extent of Ohm’s isolation, but to make him distanced and isolated from the audience. Never mentioning his isolation once in the film, by using framing and direction, Mc Carthy expertly prepares us for the path towards Ohm’s hanging.
2. Perceived Burdensomeness. Through clever foreshadowing, along with the implied abuse Ohm went through at the hands of his father, Mc Carthy invites the audience into Ohm’s psyche of self-hatred. In conversation with Fiona at the bar, when discussing the incident between him and his mother, Ohm, knowing the audience and Fiona don’t know who killed her yet, speaks anonymously about himself. “Nah, he’s too young to be punished. Should have fucking hanged him.”
3. Acquired Capability. Finally, one must have the acquired capability to die, something which can only be built up over time through painful life events, like being abused by one’s own father.
Ultimately, Ohm’s grief and trauma is revealed to be heavily influenced by his father’s abuse, as much as it centers around the accidental shooting of his mother. But, of course, a man struggling with his traumatic demons in this way is nothing new to audiences. Nevertheless, the recognition of the mechanism does not take away from the usefulness of the mechanism, so long as the filmmaker displays mastery of that mechanism, a matter of which Mc Carthy makes clear through clever writing, subtext, and layering in his script.
The Supernatural
The least subtle of all of Mc Carthy’s tricks and yet his most effective. The ghost of his mother constantly haunting him, the witch in the basement, the wails and screams of the spirits, and “Jack the Jackass.” are not random inclusions for the script meant to terrify the audience, but representations of Ohm’s broken psyche meant to haunt and horrify him, which in turn horrifies us.
The Ghost of His Mother.
In what later becomes a tearjerking recontextualized repetition at the end, the beginning of the film opens with Ohm alone in his home, attempting to write a bleak ending to his novel, The Conquistador. However, after a plank eerily falls over, Ohm looks up to see his mother staring back at him at the top of the stairs, showing how the horror comes from Ohm, not the hotel. Soon after shining a light at the stairs, his mother appears over his shoulder, staring at him for the movie’s first jumpscare. Ohm’s mother continues to haunt him as the story goes on, accounting for a majority of the film’s scares. However, where the film’s other symbols find their horror in their subtlety, Ohm’s mom makes it clear what part of his psyche she represents.
“Jack the Jackass.”
On initial viewing, one might wonder about the bunny (or was it a donkey?) demons inclusion, finding it horrifying yet slightly jarring. Making for one of, if not the best scare of the film, as the camera refuses to move away from its terrifying wide eyes and the sound cue unsettles you to the edge of your seat, “Jack the Jackass” as Mc Carthy so wonderfully names him, finds his meaning in his relation to Ohm’s childhood and to Mal, the hotel manager. In flashbacks, a scene is shown of Ohm sending a letter to this fictitious bunny (or donkey) as he apparently had his own TV show at Ohm’s young age. At a young age, Ohm clearly looks beyond his family, and to influence and celebrities to find solace. However, like telling someone who cannot love themselves how much you love them, it doesn’t matter what Jack had to say to Ohm. Nothing external can soothe Ohm’s guilt, setting up the realization that Ohm and Ohm alone must be the one to overcome his past. Additionally, the Jackass jumpscare happens right before Mal wakes Ohm, subtly preparing the audience for the twist that Mal is the one who murdered Fiona before he eventually traps Ohm in the suite alone.
The Witch
The most present out of all Mc Carthy’s supernatural devices, the witch creates a neverending sense of dread, like we’re never alone or safe in the hotel, there’s always something behind us, over our shoulder, watching our every move. The effect the witch has on the audience is no coincidence, it represents the same exact effect Ohm’s guilt has on him. Thus, why Ohm is constantly running and escaping into the bottle or into suicide, there is always a witch in the basemant, a room he has forever locked off, that refuses to keep quiet.
Ultimately, while, Hokum will have you pointing at the screen in recognition of the other films it’s been inspired by, it’s intelligent writing, beautiful frames, and trapping sequences make it one of the better horror films of this year, despite the strong competition from films like Obsession and the Backrooms. Our descent into and journey out of Ohm’s underworld leaves those struggling with their own guilt and shame a hopeful message for the future, urging us to look inward to face and accept our own demons.
The Fashion suits the film. 4/5 stars.
The Fashion Suits 
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