Well, this was another one that got a lot of hype. I was quite surprised to see that Adam Scott got to star in this one. I’ve been having a blast binge-watching the Parks and Recreation sitcom, and Adam’s character, Ben Wyatt, made the show that much more fun. He obviously got a big boost in Severance, but I didn’t care for that show too much. In a horror movie, how would he fare? Surprisingly, quite well, but the story itself of Hokum had much to improve on.

The biggest draw of the movie, I believe, is the dark and claustrophobic atmosphere where the majority of the story takes place. But then again, I feel like that’s kind of cheating in a way. I mean, how could one not find an out-of-the-way ancient hotel in the middle of the woods, with dark lighting and tight spaces, creepy? But it’s certainly a good setting for the next selling point, which is that a witch somehow resides there as well. Creepy indeed. I expect sorcery, mysterious guest disappearances, seances, cult-like people, mysterious laughter and old lady cackling in the background, etc. Oh and of course, periodic jump scares.

So, Hokum is basically another tale about someone being consumed by guilt, grief, regret, and sorrow, and the need to let go. Sounds familiar? Well, it’s because it has worked for so many other movies. In Hokum, we learn that Ohm is dealing with a lot of issues after that little accident involving a gun and his mom when he was a child. His dad basically hates him, and Ohm grows up to be hateful, at times a rude asshole, and an alcoholic just like him. Shit hits the fan when he decides to visit the hotel his parents stayed at while they were still alive and happy.

There are a couple of weird things. Mainly, who is the actual witch living in the basement of the hotel? I mean, are we seriously going to just let that shit go and not explain a single bit of what’s going on there? Where there’s witches and the devil, you can be sure we’ll see some horned goats. Obviously, the manager and the owner of the hotel knew what was going on, as they had the room locked up, but again, some explanation—anything—would be sort of nice. Seeing that, you know, this movie’s draw is, you know, a witch? We’re supposed to just take it at face value that an evil witch lives in the basement and maybe, from time to time, they feed her victims? But even that is not clear because they keep the room locked up at all times. They fed her poor Fiona only because she was about to expose a secret relationship between her and Mal, and he couldn’t stand for that. So what about all the other victims in the past, if any?

It’s kind of obvious that Ohm’s mother following him is a sign of his grief. In the very end, it’s also obvious that Ohm changes for the better by rewriting the epilogue of his novel so that the man doesn’t smash the bottle over the kid’s head to get to the map. It’s likely a sign that Ohm will become a more positive person going forward, and his novels as a writer will reflect that. But then we get to the joke when Ohm discovers from Alby that he might have been responsible for what happened to Ohm in his room by spiking his drink with mushrooms. So, once again, we have to ask ourselves: was all that shit that happened to Ohm afterward just his hallucination, or was it reality? Wow, what a shocker. So much innovation here. Most of the evidence, I believe, leads me to think it did happen to Ohm. It quickly shows the marks on his hand, as well as how the hotel burned down and how they couldn’t find Mal’s body. Either way, it doesn’t matter too much. The point, I think, is that we’re supposed to believe that Ohm has changed for the better and that it’s not about some mysterious witch. Boooo……..👎