Damian McCarthy, who wrote and directed Hokum, cut an earlier ending in which Adam Scott’s novelist dies in the basement. “He doesn’t make it out of the basement at all,” McCarthy said of that version. “It just felt too bleak,” he said. He worried the ending would make viewers reluctant to rewatch.
Scott says the film’s finished ending “questions everything without copping out.”
In Hokum, the hosts of a remote Irish inn warn their guest that a witch haunts its honeymoon suite. Scott plays Ohm Bauman, a depressed, alcoholic novelist who’s come to West Cork to scatter his late parents’ ashes near the hotel where they honeymooned.
Scott’s description of Ohm is blunt: “He’s an asshole.” The novelist’s struggling to finish his Conquistador trilogy, and the film gradually reveals what’s behind his behavior. McCarthy builds the horror around folklore, practical effects and dark humor. He also made Caveat and Oddity.
Hokum earned roughly $25 million worldwide on a $5 million budget before arriving on Hulu October 10, 2026. It reached No. 1 on Hulu’s U.S. Top 10 movies chart October 12.
Rotten Tomatoes lists it Certified Fresh at 90% from 209 critics, with an 82% audience score. Its audience consensus praises “truly effective jump scares.”
