Adam Scott Shines in Irish Horror Film 'Hokum' as Everyman Protagonist

This article contains light spoilers for Hokum.

Early in the Irish horror movie Hokum, American author Ohm Bauman loses what little patience he had with the staff of the rustic hotel he’s visiting. When bellboy Alby (Will O’Connell) fails to comprehend his blunt and rude rejection, Ohm places a spoon over a candle, lets it heat up, and then presses it into the interlocutor’s hand. Alby recoils with shock and waits for an explanation, but Ohm only says, “You’re gonna need thicker skin than that if you’re gonna make it as a writer.”

For all that writer/director Damian McCarthy does right—that is, for as much as Hokum is really, really scary—the script is filled with characters who make unbelievable decisions, even by horror movie standards. Yet Adam Scott’s performance as an unpleasant and deeply sad Ohm allows us to buy into not just the unlikely interpersonal relationships, but also the Irish folklore that drives the movie.

The majority of Hokum takes place in the Bilberry Woods Hotel in rural Ireland, where Ohm’s parents spent their honeymoon. Troubled not just by his inability to end his incredibly successful trilogy of books about a conquistador, but also by the trauma of losing his mother as a small child and his late father’s cruelty, Ohm decides to visit Bilberry and scatter his parents’ ashes. Although he immediately condescends to everyone from creepy owner Cob (Brendan Conroy) to gruff groundskeeper Fergal (Michael Patric) to needy clerk Mal (Peter Coonan), Ohm manages to make nice with bartender Fiona (Florence Ordesh) and local oddball Jerry (David Wilmot).

After a pair of shocking events (which we won’t spoil here), Ohm decides to investigate the hotel’s locked-off honeymoon suite. The investigation forces the skeptical Ohm to deal with all manner of frightening phenomena, including ghosts, witches, and an absolute nightmare creature called Jack the Jackass. As the outsider, Ohm plays the audience surrogate, focalizing our fears and teaching us how to react.

That’s challenging, given how often the script calls for Ohm to make terrible decisions, not least of which is “Don’t go back into the hotel once the weird stuff the locals describe start actually happening.” And yet, we trust Ohm as our representative precisely because of Scott’s ability to play an everyman.

Adam Scott’s Career: From Everyman to Standout Performances

Adam Scott has been on our screens since he was a teenager, initially drawing attention for playing bully Griff Hawkins in the sitcom Boy Meets World, but then falling back into a series of steady, but unremarkable, minor roles. Although most of these parts were variations of Griff, playing a little snot in an episode of NYPD Blue or a libertine in 18th-century France in Hellraiser: Bloodline.

Scott finally found his ideal roles in 2009 and 2010, first as failed commercial actor Henry Pollard on Party Down and then as former child star politician Ben Wyatt in Parks and Recreation. As suggested by the similarity in their backgrounds, these characters made use of Scott’s long onscreen history, asking him to play somebody who has grown