Spooky season just got a new permanent resident on Hulu. Hokum, the Irish supernatural horror film from writer-director Damian McCarthy, starts streaming on the platform today, Saturday, October 10, giving everyone who skipped its spring theatrical run a chance to check into one of the year’s most talked-about haunted hotels from the safety of the couch.
A writer, an urn and a door nobody opens
Adam Scott plays Ohm Bauman, a famous American novelist who is wrapping up a bestselling trilogy about a Spanish conquistador and whose private life is in much worse shape than his career. Prompted by an old photograph, he travels to the remote Bilberry Woods Hotel in rural Ireland to scatter the ashes of his parents, who spent their honeymoon there decades earlier.
The staff have a story for him almost as soon as he arrives: the old honeymoon suite has been locked for years, and locals insist a witch is tied to it. Ohm, a committed cynic, waves the legend away. Then a bartender vanishes on Halloween night, the visions start, and the man who writes dark endings for a living finds himself walking straight toward the one door everybody warned him about.
Peter Coonan, David Wilmot, Florence Ordesh, Brendan Conroy, Michael Patric, Will O’Connell and Austin Amelio round out the ensemble, with Amelio appearing as the armored conquistador who keeps marching out of Ohm’s imagination.
Why it is worth pressing play
McCarthy built a cult following with the low-budget chillers Caveat and Oddity, and Hokum is his biggest swing so far. Released by Neon on May 1, the film reportedly earned around $25 million worldwide on a budget of roughly $5 million, a very healthy return for an original R-rated horror title.
Critics broadly agree on two things. First, the atmosphere is superb: damp green woods, creaking corridors and cleverly timed jump scares that land even when you are braced for them. Second, Scott is having fun playing deeply unlikable, trading his usual everyman warmth for a sharp-tongued, self-destructive author who belittles nearly everyone he meets. Several reviews do note that the plot gets crowded in the final act, juggling grief, addiction, folklore and a missing-person mystery, so expect a ride that is more about mood than tidy answers.
The film also picked up FANGORIA Chainsaw Award nominations for Scott’s lead performance and McCarthy’s screenplay, and its home-media release earlier this year came with a tie-in short and a making-of look at the hotel set.
How to watch
Hokum runs about 1 hour 47 minutes and is available on Hulu from October 10. It is also still available to rent or buy on digital platforms. If you want a themed double feature, Hulu’s October lineup pairs nicely with it, from classic gothic comfort viewing to more modern scares.
Our tip: watch it with the lights low, but maybe not in an old country inn.