Hokum

I feel like Damian McCarthy keeps getting worse and worse at his craft. Every time I watch one of his movies, I get excited for some new horror, but it ends up being very dull and cliché. The best part about Caveat and Oddity is that I like them more on a rewatch, so I hope I'll enjoy this one more on a rewatch as well. The issue with Hokum is that, unlike Caveat and Oddity, I can't point to one scene that's "the legendary scene." Caveat had the scene in the crawlspace, and Oddity had its scene by the front door. Hokum? I'm going to be honest, but the whole thing was a nothing burger to me.

None of the characters besides Jerry were interesting, and none of the elements of the story really amount to anything intriguing like they did in the previous movies. I hate to say it, but I think Damian McCarthy is out of tricks already. Much of this movie borrowed the same scares as before, but they were so much more predictable. I feel like if you've seen one Damian McCarthy movie at this point, you've seen them all. I'm very disappointed in this one.

Unfortunately, the writing also leaves a lot to be desired. As simple as this story should be, there are so many elements to keep track of, and most of them are hand-waved away until something needs to be done. I'm sure it's to ratchet up the tension, but I groaned every single time the plot took its time because I saw the obvious choice a mile away, while the characters didn't even bother to use a fraction of a brain cell. It's so contrived, convoluted, and cliché. Why the fuck is the dumbwaiter on a timer linked to a golfing clock? Why did Jerry jump out of a moving car and not wait for a corner? Why would Ohm bother kicking the small door if there's only ONE key to the elevator? Why is there a special suite with more security than a bank vault? Why did any of this have to happen the way it did?

The more I think about this movie, the more none of the choices make sense. I also really don't care about the conquistador plotline and have no idea how it connects to the movie. I'm tired of movies writing about writer's block and then having the protagonist experience a super natural breakthrough, as if that somehow makes the meta-story more interesting. When are we going to get a story about a writer who has his shit together and decides to scrape his current project for the more interesting story that's happening to him. Instead, all we get are contrived stories.

Well, I didn't like this one, but maybe I missed something. I'm very bummed because I was on a roll with movies that I love. Oh well, I have a lot planned for the coming Halloween week. I have a lot of fun watches planned, and I'm beyond excited to finally watch The Devils.