There are three things you should never do in a Damian McCarthy movie: Accept an odd job offer, touch an antique object, and most importantly, never go into a building that seems even remotely interesting.
Damian McCarthy, the Irish horror director behind Caveat (2020), Oddity (2024), and Hokum (2026), has a very special talent for constructing physical spaces that feel fundamentally wrong. Watching his three movies provides a vivid illustration of how McCarthy has grown as a director and how he has mastered the art of the haunted house.
McCarthy’s feature debut Caveat contains one of the worst job offers in horror history. In the film, a man who has lost his memory named Isaac (Jonathan French) is given a job offer looking after Olga (Leila Sykes). Unfortunately Olga happens to live in an old creepy house that also happens to be situated on an island, and worst still Isaac must wear a harness attached to a chain that restricts his movement around the property.
Issac has the worst survival instincts of any of McCarthy’s protagonists and accepts the job–and horror ensues. The plot proceeds l as the audience, alongside Issac, uncovers mysteries about the house and its history. While Caveat is far from perfect and has a plot that is more confusing than cohesive, the movie does show how incredible McCarthy is at utilizing space. The geography of the house is a crucial element of the film. From creepy basements to claustrophobic crawlspaces to the most unsettling bedroom you will see (until you watch McCarthy’s later film Hokum), Caveat manages to maintain a sense of growing dread through its unique use of its setting.
Four years later McCarthy refines his formula of “cursed object + scary house + interesting characters = great horror movie” in his second feature film Oddity. The film follows a blind medium named Darcy (Carolyn Bracken) who takes it into her own hands to investigate and avenge the mysterious death of her twin sister. Her investigation leads her to the house where her sister died. Like any normal antique shop owner/clairvoyant, Darcy brings a massive wooden mannequin with her to the house.
The mannequin, a prop carved by a carpenter friend of McCarthy, is an instant nightmare. However, the scariest part of the movie is the house it takes place in. The house is massive and empty. It feels hollow and that is precisely what makes it terrifying. Throughout the movie the audience has no idea where to look. There is so much empty space in every shot that any manner of terrifying creature or even more terrifying human could be lurking around any corner. The use of the cold and vacant space is what allows Oddity to be so terrifying. This is a major evolution from Caveat. In his debut, McCarthy used physical restrictions to make the audience feel trapped alongside Isaac. In Oddity, he begins to manipulate our attention with greater precision. He knows where we look, what we notice and how long we can stare at an empty corner before we convince ourselves that it is not empty at all.
In Oddity McCarthy also hones his abilities as a storyteller. His characters remain fascinating but this time they are positioned in a narrative that is just as intriguing as they are. The ending is also incredibly satisfying and smart, providing the audience a type of catharsis that Caveat does not. In Oddity McCarthy uses the space to elevate the narrative and the result is a fascinating movie that audiences are afraid to look away from.
In McCarthy’s latest directorial outing, Hokum, he both ambitiously expands on his past two films and perfects his skill for making any space feel like the absolute worst place to be. In Hokum, McCarthy moves from an isolated house to a remote Irish hotel, where Ohm Bauman (Adam Scott), an American author, takes a break from working on his final novel to scatter his parents' ashes in Ireland. Of course the hotel comes with a local legend involving a forbidden and very haunted honeymoon suite. Naturally, things go very wrong as a hotel employee disappears and Ohm finds himself investigating a supernatural mystery.
This film stands out from McCathy’s previous two works for two major reasons. The first is the massive expansion of space. The hotel is a culmination of McCarthy’s amassed knowledge on how to make a building both terrifying and beautiful. The sheer massiveness of the hotel makes it terrifying. There is always something new to discover, and it is always something you definitely wish you had not discovered. While still containing some of McCarthy’s earlier trademark moves such as haunted basements and creepy bunnies (yes all three movies have a creepy bunny), the film also expands on the McCarthy formula by adding more rooms and a more clear sense of quirky fun. In Caveat, the central problem was that Isaac could not move freely. In Oddity, the problem was that the audience and the characters could not trust what they saw. In Hokum, the problem becomes the sheer number of places where something could go wrong. This is a clever progression as McCarthy does not abandon claustrophobia but instead discovers how to create the same feeling of being haunted and trapped, just on a much larger scale.
The second reason Hokum stands apart from McCarthy’s earlier films is the complexity of the protagonist. While Issac and Darcy are very interesting characters, they are not as dynamic as Ohm. Ohm, portrayed by Adam Scott playing against type, is abrasive, cruel, and burdened by his past. His investigation is tied to grief and guilt, allowing McCarthy to connect the building's supernatural mysteries with the character's personal history. This marks a major evolution of McCarthy’s narrative understanding, as the space not only serves to elevate the horror but also the protagonist's personal journey.
Throughout his three films Damian McCarthy has developed a unique personal style and has created movies that are wholly unique. Across all three, McCarthy understands that fear is not just about what appears on screen. It is about where something appears, what surrounds it, and what the audience expects to happen next. His settings have gotten bigger, his visual storytelling sharper, and his nightmares considerably harder to escape. Not every mystery lands, but when it comes to making an empty room feel like it wants you dead, few directors do it better.
So if you are interested in horror or mystery or just want to watch a really cool movie, check out Damian McCarthy, and if you learn nothing else from this article please remember: If a stranger offers you money to spend the night in a creepy house, say no. If the house is on an island, say no faster. And if there is a wooden mannequin inside, start running.
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