Watching the trailer for Hokum, I was overcome with a strange sense of deja vu — that castle bore an uncanny resemblance to the castle where Oddity took place. Not even a minute later, the trailer confirmed that the film was written/directed by Damian McCarthy, the same filmmaker who had made Oddity. And further research showed that both films were shot in McCarthy’s native homeland of West Cork, Ireland.

So yes, it’s exceedingly likely that McCarthy — still a relatively new and lesser-known talent — used the exact same shooting location for two of his projects that I know of. This leads me to the concerning possibility that McCarthy may not have any ideas or functionality outside this one county in Ireland. This will never do for someone who’s apparently getting hyped up as one of the next great up-and-coming horror filmmakers. Then again, now that McCarthy apparently has all this name recognition and clout in the prestige horror scene, maybe he’ll have the budget and the opportunity to go seek greener pastures. Time will tell.

Anyway, Oddity was a clever little ghost story that sadly got dragged down by godawful jump scares. And wouldn’t you know it, Hokum is more of the same.

Adam Scott plays Ohm Bauman (yes, even the characters in the film point out the inexplicably weird name). He’s been a bitter alcoholic grump ever since his parents died of horribly traumatic circumstances I won’t discuss here. Bauman is also a massively successful novelist, currently writing the long-awaited conclusion of a best-selling trilogy. Trouble is, the ending he’s come up with is nihilistic shit. But even by Bauman’s own admission, he’s a fucked-up human being who writes fucked-up characters, so a downer ending might be on-brand for him.

Anyway, Bauman feels strangely compelled to step away from the keyboard for a bit and take his parents’ ashes to the last place he knew they were truly happy. This brings us to an old hotel out in the Irish countryside, where paranormal shit starts going down and people suddenly go missing shortly after Bauman arrives. Long story short, all signs point to the hotel’s enigmatic honeymoon suite, which has been tightly locked up for the past several decades because it’s haunted by a witch. Or so the management claims.

From there, it’s basically Oddity, but more of it. Granted, we’ve got a wider cast of slightly more detailed characters, a more elaborate plot, and the budget seems to be much bigger. But at its heart and core, it’s another film in which we’ve got deeply unsympathetic human beings committing mundane crimes to cover up other mundane crimes, running parallel to the ghosts and goblins lurking about.

Which brings me to the far less fortunate similarity between the two McCarthy films: the jump scares are shit. The plot is elegantly constructed. The atmosphere is sensational. The jump scares are overwrought and aggressively loud. A storyteller with McCarthy’s talent should not have to resort to so many jump scares and punctuate every last one with a deafening musical screech. It’s pathetic.

And sure, most of the characters in this picture are one-dimensional plot devices. Hardly an unusual problem in a horror film. For that matter, it’s unfortunate that the most likeable and interesting character in this whole picture is the potential love interest (Fiona, played by Florence Ordesh) who gets maybe five minutes of screen time before she disappears for the purpose of motivating our male protagonist. That said, it makes a difference that so much of the plot is about watching the characters try and invent solutions to whatever problem they have in the moment. We get to watch them be intelligent, which is always interesting when it’s done as well as it is here.

Which brings me to the other major factor: the themes. Obviously, a big one concerns Bauman — the small-minded cynic — learning how to broaden his mind and believe in something bigger than himself. Though mostly, that’s merely an excuse for our protagonist to engage with the supernatural shit and learn how to survive it. What’s far more interesting is the theme of redemption, as Ohm learns to let go of his parents and forgive himself for everything he’s done. And the redemption angle dovetails nicely with the other characters, all of whom are struggling to cover up or make amends for their various transgressions.

It sucks that there’s so little I can say about Hokum without spoiling it. The joy of this movie is in watching the plot unfold, with its various reveals and twists and payoffs. Moreover the atmosphere is immaculate in a way that demands to be experienced firsthand.

Unfortunately — as with the vast majority of mysteries — the plot becomes significantly less interesting with the full understanding of everything going on. Moreover, while McCarthy has made strides in balancing the supernatural with the mundane in such a way that they’re equally compelling, he’s still not quite there yet. Of course, I’m sure it would help if McCarthy would knock it off with the damn jump scares!

Overall, I’d say that while Hokum is the more technically impressive and elaborate film, Oddity had a stronger sense of identity. Oddity was more of a lean and straightforward ghost story while Hokum has so many more moving pieces that I’m not entirely sure it accomplished what it set out to do.

I honestly believe that McCarthy has the potential to be a marvelous horror filmmaker, if only he could get out of his own way and let the creepy atmosphere power the horror. In the meantime, he’s made two films ideally fit to be watched with friends in a dark living room. At this rate, I’ll be interested to see what McCarthy does next and how his craft improves.