There are none so blind as those who will not see… even after their eyes are pried opened.

Novelist Ohm Bauman (Adam Scott) travels to the old Irish inn where his parents once honeymooned, scattering their ashes in the nearby woods. While ducking an impending All Hollow’s Eve celebration, Bauman can’t avoid the local lore about a witch haunting the permanently closed honeymoon suite. Reluctant banter with bartender Fiona (Florence Ordesh) ends up saving Bauman’s life, but when he returns from the hospital to thank his rescuer, he discovers she went missing that same night. Some accuse a local drifter named Jerry (David Wilmot), better known for his mushroom and goat milk concoctions, but the drifter has his own theory about Fiona’s vanishing. With the inn closing for the season and intrigue getting the better of him, Bauman decides to see for himself if the haunted honeymoon suite contains a body, a witch, or both… or if it’s all just a bunch of, well, you know.

A slang combination of hocus-pocus and bunkum, “hokum” is an interesting choice for the title, suggesting the implied witch trapped and/or hidden in off-limit rooms is intended to stir up the imagination as well as increase bookings. The main character is both a typical non-believer but also a bookish research nerd, so while the bait is irresistible, he’ll also have to overcome his own baggage and history bleeding into his journey. From the dense forest and mysterious mists to a century-old lodge full of history and embellishments, the sound and setting is ripe for a spooky good time. As everyman Adam Scott is pulled deeper and deeper into depths of the building and the plot, what will get him first: haunting ghosts, a living murderer, or the supposed witch trapped inside with him?

Seeding the film’s shadowy meme-worthy “what am I looking at” cinematography in a brief prologue, Hokum builds its lore one brick at a time from Bauman’s POV for the audience. The plot continuously calls back upon its established lore without explanation, encouraging viewers to keep by refusing to spoon-feed them the answers suggested by the layered clues. Combining a whodunit mystery with a dark journey of self discovery, the story is dripping in Irish folklore like onion gravy on mashed potatoes. Neon has helped themselves to all the atmosphere A24 is typically known for, with a dash of The Blair Witch Project marketing thrown in for good measure.

There are many comparisons one could make to 1408, from a selfish writer who believes in nothing to spending a bulk of the production alone reacting to the set and practical effects, not to mention some genius thinking on trying to escape an isolated haunted suite. Writer/director Damian McCarthy’s last effort was Oddity, employing similar isolation and atmosphere to stir the imagination, including a final act where the gloves come off and hyperbole turns real. While the overall story idea isn’t as self-reinforcing as 1408, Hokum enjoys the freedom of an R rating with the addition of grislier images and significantly more graphic details.

Fans of Apple TV’s “Severance” or Michael Dougherty’s 2015 Krampus understand the levity Adam Scott can bring to a character, even a self-entitled American author being a jerk to not-so quaint Irish locals by dismissing their folklore. He can also believably pull off a character turn, when facts can no longer be ignored and the time for action is nigh. Beginnings are easy but endings are hard, whether it’s fiction or real life, and how one wants something to end sometimes no longer fulfills the journey it took to get there.

Hokum is rated R for some violent/disturbing content, language, and deliciously just desserts.

4 skull recommendation out of 4.