NEON has officially announced the upcoming release of Hokum, starring Adam Scott.
Damian McCarthy is in the director’s chair for this highly anticipated follow-up to indie hits Caveat and Oddity.
Film News Blitz’s RC Stacey celebrates the arrival of a new folk-horror nightmare.
What is Adam Scott up to in ‘Hokum’?
Fresh off the success of his independent features, McCarthy has teamed up with NEON for Hokum, which is set to premiere at this month’s SXSW Film Festival.
For those unable to attend the festival circuit, the wait won’t be long: the film is officially hitting theatres on 1 May, 2026.
The film stars Adam Scott (Severance) as Ohm Bauman, a novelist who retreats to a remote inn to scatter his parents’ ashes.
What begins as a sombre personal journey quickly descends into madness as Bauman becomes consumed by local tales of a witch haunting the inn’s honeymoon suite.
Between disturbing visions and a shocking disappearance, Bauman is forced to confront the darkest corners of his own history.
While McCarthy brings the indie sensibilities, he is supported by Roy Lee and Steven Schneider, the producers behind massive franchises like IT, The Ring, and Paranormal Activity.
McCarthy is part of the “new wave” of horror directors who, much like Sam Raimi or Mike Flanagan before him, rose to prominence by crafting terrifying, high-concept stories like Caveat on a shoestring budget.
The first official poster for Hokum has already sent chills down our spines, promising a blend of psychological trauma and supernatural folk-horror.
By centring the story, McCarthy is tapping into the classic remote location tropes that have defined the genre for decades.
To find out more about Damian McCarthy’s early work, I highly recommend checking out Oddity (2024).
It’s a masterclass in building tension with limited resources.
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