The “if you know, you know” era of indie horror director Damian McCarthy is officially over—he’s hitting the big leagues, and he’s bringing a very familiar face into the darkness with him.
Neon has just unveiled a stunningly eerie “kaleidoscopic” poster for Hokum, and it’s already sending chills through the horror community. The image features a fractured, mirrored Adam Scott surrounded by distorted faces and stark red heart motifs, signaling a psychological meltdown that’s as visually trippy as it is terrifying.
In this supernatural nightmare, the Severance star plays Ohm Bauman, a cynical horror novelist who travels to a remote Irish inn to scatter his parents’ ashes. He’s a man who makes a living off “hokum” (fake scares), but he quickly learns that some legends are very real. The staff at the inn whisper about an ancient witch locked away in the abandoned honeymoon suite—and naturally, curiosity becomes a death sentence.
If you caught McCarthy’s previous hits like Caveat or last year’s award-winning Oddity, you know he doesn’t rely on cheap jump scares. Instead, he builds a sense of “looming dread” that makes you want to check the corners of your own room. Early reviews from its SXSW premiere earlier this month are calling it “gratuitously frightening” and a “masterclass in atmospheric tension.”
But there’s an even weirder twist for the eagle-eyed fans. Marketing for the film has started teasing a terrifying “human-rabbit hybrid” creature that some believe might link Hokum to the creepy drumming rabbit from McCarthy’s previous films. Could we be looking at a shared “McCarthy-verse” of folk horror?
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With a powerhouse production team behind it—including the producers of IT and Paranormal Activity—this isn’t just another indie flick. It’s being positioned as the must-see horror event of the spring, blending classic Gothic tropes with a modern, mean-spirited edge.
Mark your calendars for May 1, 2026, when Hokum officially checks into theaters across the US.