Exploring the Haunting Depths of "Hokum": A Behind-the-Scenes Look at Damian McCarthy's Supernatural Thriller

By & Published May 2, 2026, 11:39 AM EDT follow Follow followed Followed Like Like Log in Here is a fact-based summary of the story contents: Try something different: Show me the facts Explain it like I’m 5 Give me a lighthearted recap

A -related childhood freak-out helped inspire Damian McCarthy’s new supernatural folk horror exercise.

stars Adam Scott as a struggling author on a sentimental trip to Ireland, whose sojourn to the Emerald Isle goes very wrong thanks to some disturbing supernatural occurrences at his hotel. Already established as a major horror filmmaker thanks to his 2026 movie Oddity, McCarthy both wrote and directed Hokum, whose terrors include an energetically weird character billed as Jack the Jackass, played by Will O'Connell, who also portrays the hotel’s bellhop Alby.

In an interview with ScreenRant's Ash Crossan, McCarthy revealed the inspiration for Hokum’s creepy Jack the Jackass, explaining the character’s Disney roots. “I guess just in terms of the design, it came from Pinocchio, the idea of the half boy, half jackass when they started to turn. That also had freaked me out as a kid. But then they're halfway transformed.”

Asked what it was like being face-to-face with such a terrifying figure, Hokum star Scott expressed relief that his exposure to Jack the Jackass was limited, while praising actor O’Connell. “Well, luckily, I never had to be on set with the donkey with Will playing that role. But I got to act with Will as the bellboy, and he's just incredible. And then, getting to see him play Jack, it's just terrifying. And it's hard to believe that's the same actor. Will's just incredible.”

McCarthy also explained how O’Connell came to play both the timid Alby and the freakish Jack. “When he was first going to play Alby, he's got so much energy, and in real life, he's really energetic and he's a lot of fun. But the thing with Alby is he's quite repressed...It just felt like that I had to really restrain Will, and he got it completely. He really played that part so well. But I knew he had all this energy.”

Knowing O’Connell had all this untapped energy, McCarthy offered him a second role that would allow him to really cut loose. “I said, ‘Well, Jack is so bonkers. He's so up and full of energy...if Will would be interested in doing that, too, you get to use all of that side of Will, as well, in that really cool way.’

McCarthy then discussed how O’Connell’s roles tie together through Scott’s character, a famous author who is cruel to aspiring writer Alby, and later receives his own torment thanks in part to Jack the Jackass. “He's very mean when they meet. So, I thought then that when Adam's character is being punished later on, it would be nice if Will, as Alby, was one of these things that's part of that torment.”

Scott’s tormented author and O’Connell’s pair of very different roles were a big part of why , including a rave from ScreenRant:

The emotional rawness of the film makes the central narrative compelling, even as the brewing mythology and genuinely great twists keep escalating the tension to its breaking point. Hokum is a refinement of what came before, not a rehash: a terrifically composed throwback that knows when to play things grounded and when to embrace the horror for its full potential.

Hokum and its were released in theaters on May 1.

7.0/10 9/10 10 stars 9 stars 8 stars 7 stars 6 stars 5 stars 4 stars 3 stars 2 stars 1 star Like Follow Followed R Release Date May 1, 2026 Runtime 101 Minutes Director Damian McCarthy Writers Damian McCarthy Producers Derek Dauchy, Mairtín de Barra, Roy Lee, Julianne Forde, Steven Schneider, Ruth Treacy