Culture

Now Playing: ‘Hokum’ is a hotel horror film that’s worth checking out

By: Gordon Briggs
Posted on: Wednesday, May 20, 2026

< < Back to

A hotel is the perfect location for a horror film. Whether it’s the Bates Motel in Psycho or the Overlook Hotel in The Shining, hotels are locations that thrive on liminality; they are temporary, in-between spaces where you are inherently an outsider. That emphasis on space and setting is what makes Hokum an effective horror movie.

In Hokum (2026), a cynical and depressed horror novelist named Ohm Bauman (a solid Adam Scott) travels to a remote hotel to scatter his parents’ ashes. Upon arrival, he discovers the hotel is hiding something sinister within its walls.

First, I want to compliment how they wrote the lead character.  A different movie would’ve made the grieving author more likable and sympathetic. However, Adam Scott plays his author in a more abrasive fashion. As the film begins, Scott is short-tempered, condescending, and dismissive toward those around him. He even goes as far as burning a bellboy’s hand with a heated spoon out of pure annoyance.

That choice makes for a more engaging character arc. Not only must he confront whatever is hiding in the hotel, but he must also confront his own isolation.

What distinguishes Hokum is how it uses the hotel setting. Director Damian McCarthy’s previous film, Oddity, was a horror film set in a similarly peculiar setting: an isolated home in the woods, filled with trap doors and strange stairways. Visually, I will describe Hokum‘s hotel as a deeply unsettling place that looks like a spooky version of your grandma’s house. Walking into the place is like stepping back in time.

As bodies and scares begin to pile up, the ordinary objects and features of a hotel take on an added significance. Doors, a dumbwaiter that moves between floors, and the service bell all take on a sinister quality as Scott fights for his survival in the hostile hotel.

If there’s a gripe I have with Hokum, it’s the overreliance on jump scares. Specifically, the film frequently relies on sudden, deafening “jumps” or stock shrieks to force a startle, which can break the deep, atmospheric tension the film otherwise builds. Jump scares can be fun, but sometimes they produce more anxiety in me than pleasure.

Overall, this was an enjoyable horror outing that should please fans of Folk Horror. ★★★