#psychological

I was having a discussion with a friend about my recent penchant for folk horror when she mentioned a movie she had recently viewed, Hokum. Little did she know that this movie would catapult to one of my top favorite all-time horror movies, right next to The Conjuring. Shout out to @Saraespi for giving me the recommend. (There you have it; you can guess what I'm going to say in "The Final Cut.") I have loved this recent resurgence in folk horror with movies like Hokum, Keeper (2025), and Exhuma (2024). My recent rabbit-hole dive has, yet again, found an amazing film.

Plot Summary

Adam Scott plays a cynical, douchebag of an author named Ohm Bauman, who is battling an onset of writer's block. Desperate to finish his book series, he escapes to Ireland to clear his mind and scatter the ashes of his parents, who honeymooned at the Bilberry Woods Hotel years ago. The Bilberry has a dark past where the owner is to have said he trapped a witch on the premises. Ohm, skeptical of the lore, calls it all hokum (yes; the title of the film).

After some unfortunate happenings and important background building, a kind member of the hotel staff disappears, and Ohm takes it upon himself to find her. This pushes Ohm’s skepticism to its limits, and he unwittingly steps into a living nightmare where he must face both supernatural horror and his own psychological trauma.

Background

Hokum is written and directed by Damian McCarthy. I haven't seen his other films, Caveat (2020) and Oddity (2024), but they are definitely on my list now.

The studio, NEON, was also a newcomer for me, and I found I also viewed another of their backed movies, Longlegs, recently. As I stated, Adam Scott plays the lead in the movie, and he did a great, phenomenal job. I'm used to him playing the quintessential nice guy, and to see him playing the exact opposite here brought a new kind of appreciation for his work. The guy was a downright jerk and nigh-on unlikable in his portrayal!

Another nod to The Conjuring universe was the standout sound work done by Joseph Bishara.

Folk Horror Context

Hokum sits comfortably in the folk horror subgenre. This movie had several reminders of another favorite movie, The Wicker Man. The unsettling atmosphere, the decaying architecture of the Bilberry Hotel, and the slow-burn story all reminded me of that film. The theme of an arrogant outsider challenging local history and then facing the consequences of his beliefs was also very reminiscent of the aforementioned film.

Hokum uses Irish folklore to great effect. Unlike the classic Hollywood "witch," Irish folklore uses ancient entities like the Cailleach, hags, and banshees—not just as monsters, but as physical representations of the land's history, particularly related to grief and judgment.

The Final Cut

When we get to the heart of Hokum, that's what it's really all about: trauma, grief, and judgment. This film is deeply about one man's dealings with deep-seated trauma; the grief he has following that trauma, and the judgment he feels from the world around him. Scott excellently portrays all of this in his performance.

Another performance that really stood out for me was the mushroom-milk-guzzling Jerry, played by David Wilmot. It's also this affectation that calls into question the very happenings of the movie, but I choose to disregard this explanation.

My Final Cut is this: Hokum uses its suffocating atmosphere, brilliant use of Irish folklore, and a career-pivoting performance by Adam Scott to make itself a standout in psychological and folk horror genre. If you're looking for a slow-burn, high-payoff movie like The Wicker Man, you need to watch Hokum.

Review: Hellblazer, Vol. 3 – The Fear Machine

I started reading the 1980s Hellblazer run because I really liked the Keanu Reeves movie Constantine (2005). Needless to say, things are much different in the original comics than they are in the film. In fact, I’m not even to the story arc yet where the plot that inspired the movie came from. I say “inspired” because from what I understand, the story arc in the comics has very little to do with what actually happened on screen. Yes, there’s a bit of story crossover, but it’s not huge. The original John Constantine is English. Keep in mind I’m relaying this because I wasn’t familiar with the character before I saw the movie. And yes, I have read the previous volumes leading up to this one, but as stated, that was all after I saw the film. This specific volume ran from December of 1988 to September of 1989. From the research that I’ve done on the series, this story arc by writer Jamie Delano was considered one of the most deeply political storylines of the entire run. I’m someone who tries my best to stay out of politics and keep my opinions to myself, but it was easy to see the social commentary of the time bleeding through as I was reading. Even though this was set in the late '80s, I felt the social commentary was very relevant to today’s political climate as well.

A Brief Summary of the Plot Constantine is on the run from the chaotic events that happened prior to this story. He gets out of London and heads into the surrounding rural areas. There, he meets a young girl named Mercury, who takes a liking to John and invites him to the eco-commune she and her mother, Marj, belong to. Mercury has powerful psychic abilities, and she and John eventually stumble into a massive government conspiracy. A high-tech shadow branch is harvesting fear, anxiety, and other psychological trauma from the British populace, using machinery to channel and weaponize it through ancient ley lines. When Mercury gets kidnapped, it spurs Constantine into action. The story takes on a very detective-noir feel as John falls down a rabbit hole that leads straight to a sinister group trying to awaken an ancient eldritch monster.

The Art and Reading Experience This volume was about 200 pages. Comics are usually fast reads for me, but I found the text here very dense to get through, so it took me a little over a week to finish. Along with the story, one of my favorite parts of any comic is the art, and this one hit a little differently than my usual forays. The principal artist on this arc was Mark Buckingham, with inking done by Alfredo Alcala. At first, the artwork had an almost airy, ethereal quality to it, and I wasn’t really digging it. But the more I read and got into the story, the more the style fit. The horror scenes were really good; there were many horrific—and psychologically horrific—parts where the art style totally clicked. While the first part of the book and the initial setup were hard to get into, the last half flew by once you finally knew what was going on.

Final Thoughts I can’t say that this was my favorite Constantine story I’ve read so far, but I did really love the twist. I’m a big fan of cosmic horror, ancient cults, and Lovecraft, and this tapped into those exact vibes very well for me. I’m looking forward to getting to Volume 5 of this series, which is when Garth Ennis takes over and I finally get to read the story arc that inspired the movie. The Final Cut: If you can push through the dense setup in the first part of the book, you’ll be well rewarded with a great final half.