Spoiler warning: We are opening the honeymoon suite, discussing the witch, exposing who killed whom, and explaining the ending. If you haven’t watched Hokum yet, this is your opportunity to leave that door CLOSED.
There are certain phrases in horror movies that should immediately make a reasonable person pack their suitcase.
“Don’t go into the basement.”
“The previous guests disappeared.”
And my personal favorite:
“That room has been sealed because a witch lives in it.”
Check, please.
Hokum, written and directed by Damian McCarthy, the filmmaker behind Caveat and Oddity, opened in U.S. theaters on May 1, 2026. The NEON horror film stars Adam Scott as novelist Ohm Bauman and runs 1 hour and 47 minutes. It’s rated R for violent/disturbing content and language.
And if you thought Adam Scott’s workplace in Severance was uncomfortable, wait until you see this hotel.
Ohm Bauman Has Brought More Than Luggage
Ohm is a successful horror novelist who travels to a secluded Irish inn where his parents once honeymooned.
He’s there to scatter their ashes and hopefully finish the final book in his popular trilogy.
Sounds peaceful.
Unfortunately, the hotel comes with folklore involving a witch, a permanently closed honeymoon suite, strange locals and exactly the kind of hallways where you just KNOW somebody is going to appear behind you.
Ohm isn’t particularly warm or charming when he arrives. He’s sarcastic, rude and clearly carrying something heavier than those urns.
Then bartender Fiona tells him about the witch supposedly haunting the forbidden honeymoon suite.
Again:
Forbidden. Honeymoon. Suite.
Three words that have never produced a relaxing vacation.
When Fiona suddenly disappears, Ohm starts digging into what happened to her—and the hotel’s ghost story begins looking less like local nonsense and more like something everybody should’ve been taking very seriously.
That Witch Is Not Here for Complimentary Breakfast
McCarthy is excellent at making ordinary spaces feel deeply wrong.
Doors.
Curtains.
Staircases.
A dumbwaiter.
By the time Hokum gets going, that hotel has the energy of a building where even the wallpaper knows something and refuses to cooperate with police.
The witch is tied to the sealed honeymoon suite and the hidden spaces beneath it. Ohm eventually learns that chalk circles can offer protection from her, which immediately raises another question:
If your hotel has an established witch-defense procedure, perhaps Travelocity should mention that.
The supernatural story also becomes connected to guilt.
Not vague horror-movie guilt.
Everybody around this place has apparently been keeping secrets that could fill an entire daytime talk show season.
Fiona’s Disappearance Is Much Worse Than It Looks
Ohm eventually teams up with Jerry, a troubled local man who has his own dark history.
Jerry admits that he killed his terminally ill wife, but his story is more complicated than simple murder. His wife was suffering, and the act continues to haunt him despite his belief that he ended her pain.
Then there’s Mal, connected to the hotel.
Mal’s secret?
Much uglier.
Fiona had been involved with him and became pregnant. Mal, who was married, killed Fiona and hid her body inside the sealed honeymoon suite.
Sir.
You knew a WITCH lived in there and still thought:
“This seems like an excellent place to hide evidence.”
Some people cannot be helped.
Mal eventually starts a fire in an effort to destroy evidence and kills Jerry with a crossbow while Jerry is trying to help Ohm.
At this stage, I’m no longer worried about the witch.
I’m rooting for her.
Ohm’s Biggest Secret Is About His Mother
The movie’s emotional punch comes when we finally understand what Ohm has been carrying around all these years.
As a child, Ohm accidentally shot and killed his mother while playing with his father’s gun.
That buried trauma has shaped the man we’ve been watching, the anger, detachment and guilt he has never properly confronted.
And suddenly his trip to scatter his parents’ ashes means something very different.
He’s not simply saying goodbye.
He’s trying to make peace with something he has spent his entire life running from.
The haunted hotel just happens to believe in extremely aggressive therapy.
Hokum Ending Explained
During the final confrontation, Ohm and Mal end up in the witch’s domain beneath the honeymoon suite.
Both are chained.
But their guilt isn’t the same.
Ohm caused his mother’s death accidentally and has carried genuine remorse ever since.
Mal murdered Fiona to protect himself.
The witch claims Mal, dragging him toward what appears to be some kind of supernatural underworld.
Honestly?
Performance review completed.
Meanwhile, Ohm sees his mother’s spirit and finally apologizes.
She forgives him.
That forgiveness gives Ohm the emotional release he’s been unable to give himself, and he manages to escape before the hotel burns.
The ending then throws one final question at us.
Ohm learns that his drink had been spiked with hallucinogenic mushrooms earlier, suggesting that maybe some of what he experienced could have been drug-induced.
OH, COME ON.
After all that, now we’re doing:
“But was it real?”
Except Ohm looks at his wrists and sees physical marks left by the witch’s chains.
So the strongest reading is that the supernatural events really happened—the mushrooms may have affected Ohm’s perception or ability to see certain things, but they don’t neatly explain away everything he experienced.
The Real Monster Is Guilt
That’s what I liked most about Hokum.
The witch is scary.
The hotel is creepy.
The jump scares work.
But underneath all of it, this movie is really interested in what people do with guilt.
Jerry carries guilt even though his actions came from compassion.
Ohm has punished himself for an accident since childhood.
Mal commits murder and worries primarily about getting caught.
Same emotion.
Three completely different relationships with it.
And the witch almost feels less like a traditional villain than a supernatural bill collector.
Eventually?
Somebody has to pay.
Horror Tea Verdict
Adam Scott is a great choice for Ohm because he can be funny, irritated, unpleasant and vulnerable without making the shifts feel forced.
And Damian McCarthy once again proves that he knows how to build dread without throwing something at the camera every thirty seconds.
The movie currently has a 90% Tomatometer score from more than 200 critic reviews and an 82% verified audience score on Rotten Tomatoes.
It’s a little slow in places, and the final “maybe mushrooms?” suggestion feels unnecessary after the movie has worked so hard to establish its supernatural world.
But when Hokum gets creepy?
It gets creepy.
Horror Tea Rating: ☕☕☕☕ out of 5
Atmospheric, strange, surprisingly emotional and further proof that when hotel staff tells you a room has been permanently sealed because something evil lives inside…
Believe them.
You already paid for the regular room.
Be grateful.