Hokum (2026) - A Guest Review by Adrian Brain

I reviewed in our MeWe Projector Room Group director/writer Damian McCarthy's earlier films “Caveat” and “Oddity” and loved them both. This, his third, is clearly a bigger-budget film, had a successful cinema release and is now available on streaming in the UK.

This time we have a recognisable star in the lead, Adam “Severance” Scott, but otherwise the setting is similar to his previous films; an isolated location in the rural depths of Ireland, with a small cast of slightly quirky characters and back-story elements carefully introduced in the early stages of the film.

Unusually, the supernatural elements and air of creepiness are introduced in the very first scene, whereas they were a slow-build in his earlier films. This puts the film more squarely in the traditional “horror” category, but uses neither gore or violence to create the uneasy atmosphere - although there are a few jump scares, which are well used.

With a more commercial film, the director hasn’t lost his flair for atmosphere and story-telling, and I’m really interested to see where he goes next now he has proven himself capable of turning a profit ($5 million budget, $25 million profit). This caps off an almost perfect trilogy of unnerving films and it's a solid 8/10 from me.

Here's also a link to my Projector Room co-host Gareth Myles' views on the very same film from last month over on his website, which is well worth a visit and bookmark.