A BREAKDOWN of ALL Symbols, Themes, and the Ending of Hokum

Ohm's final circle wasn't completed - you could clearly see the large break in the circle in the shot where it showed him sitting as the witch dragged Mal past. She was coming back for him, she was just grabbing Mal first. The very fact that he ended up in shackles shows his circle didn't protect him and he got caught - he was the next sacrifice. His mother gave him the will to reject the bleak ending he was seemingly trapped in.

I don’t think that was the Conquistador’s son, I think it was just a servant, that’s why the boy didn’t speak the same language

The cork finally sticking up out of the bottle in the final shot of the movie was great

Alby spiking Ohm's bottle with psychedelics, may be what enables him to finally see and talk to his mother's ghost - just as they allowed Jerry to communicate with his dead wife. Also, in the final scene the bottle lands next to a goat skull, reminding us of the goat seen early in the film. Fiona is also wearing a rabbit suit at the Halloween party, another connection to the rabbit toys of Caveat and Oddity. I also noticed that Fiona's bodys eyes were closed when Ohm emerged from the cellar for the second time; visually telling us that she's finally at peace and has moved on.

Fiona’s outcome was very hard for me to handle after what she did for Ohm. I wonder why the witch did not go for her…. Was it her purity?

The witch is not a witch, it's a Cailleach, according to the hotel owner. Now, a Cailleach can be any general witch (or even any general old woman), but is also the name of one very specific folkloric figure, Cailleach Beira. And that figure is the goddess of winter. She is part of a dual-goddess pairing with summer. She steps into power the day of Samhain (i.e. Halloween, which is when Fiona goes missing) and rules until May 1st. Throughout winter, she keeps Bride, the wife and queen of the god of summer, Aengus, prisoner and forces her to endure and do chores. On May 1st, Bride's husband, Aengus, finds and frees her, and turns Cailleach Baira into a powerless rock, which she stays as until Halloween. There are some very obvious similarities with the Persephone story. Bride is a goddess of childbirth and spring. So, lots and lots of parallels in the movie, and it appears that Fiona is a Bride stand in. Fiona is pregnant, she is held hostage in the honeymoon suite/ basement by the witch, she is taken the day good times end and winter begins with the witch traditionally comes into power, and she is rescued by a man. Cailleach Baira is also associated with horned animals, like the goats who are constantly mulling around. There are separate stories about varies folkloric creatures dragging people to Hell. This is usually split into Fae, who kidnap children to the other world (not judeo-christian Hell) somewhat similar to the story the hotel owner tells, and creatures like the Sluagh, who locate sinners and the unfaithful and take their souls to Hell, usually on Halloween, since they have the most power that day.

to add to your point about him living in a circle shutting himself off to others - i think it tied back to his alcoholism and the circle of condensation under his glass. he used alcoholism as a way to "protect" himself from facing his guilt

That donkey-ear TV demon might be my favorite thing all year, dying to discuss your thoughts and questions!

Jack the Donkey is a design based on the boy who gets turned into a donkey for being "bad" in Pinocchio. Bauman couldn't forgive himself for the accident and felt "bad". Jack the Donkey (or Jackass as he calls himself in the hallucination) is there to constantly remind him of this. He's Ohm's personal demon from childhood that he can now see clearly because of the mushrooms. But he's always been there. An interesting detail is that his demon is hovering over him while he sleeps in bed, inside the very place he was able to draw a protective barrier around later to save himself from the witch. For me, this was saying that the donkey demon was also very real and always with him and he had no means to protect himself from his own guilt at that time. When he's in the basement and unable to finish the circle the witch is supposed to have said "he's waiting for you". I take that to mean his personal guilt demon is still there to haunt him and will drag him to hell. Only his mother forgiving him in that moment frees him from the proverbial shackles and gives him the will to live. Just stuff I thought of after finding out what the donkey demon design was based on. His "crime" occurred when he was a boy so it was an appropriate manifestation given the Pinocchio story. I also found it so interesting that he seems so unprotected in that bed from his demon, but he figures out with the help of Fiona (who as you might recall he said looked like his mother) how to fight the witch from getting him in that same exact space.

When Ohm goes back to the basement for the second time, I’m pretty sure he fails to draw the circle and the witch gets him. You can see the key to the lift he had left hanging in the corridor along with the other stuff that the witch has been collecting. I see this as an unintentional tragic outcome, which connects to the gun accident and his childhood trauma, so when his mom’s ghost shows up and he tells her that shooting her was a mistake, an accident. She says she knows and understands. Through that, he forgives himself. The small saw he uses to unshackle himself becomes a symbol of redemption.

It was very sad seeing his mom stumble over to hug Ohm as if to say, "My poor child, this is not your fault. I love you. Forgive yourself."

To me, all the hauntings in the honeymoon suite with Fiona and his mom are due to the spiked drink, but the witch and everything that happens in the basement is real. That's why the shackle marks are there, and Mal is really missing.

Lucas, I love your movie analysis videos. I often see movies alone in the theatre and I don’t have anyone to discuss it with afterward, especially in the case of elevated horrors. And until your video, I thought the creepy tv donkey was a creepy tv rabbit!

Honestly Baumans dad was a villain. He left the gun out with a kid around and blamed/abused the kid when an accident happened

You have a real gift, Lucas. Outstanding comprehension.

It is interesting to me that you thought the boy was the conquistador's son. That never once occurred to me. It's more likely that he's a page or, even more likely, a simple servant boy. Especially considering the child's clothes and because they literally don't speak the same language (he has to mime instructions to the boy)

The reoccurring tiny saw is a symbol of forgiveness and freedom. It is first used to saw the lock off of the box containing the gun he used to kill his mother. It then appears when he tries to kill himself, and Fiona uses it to cut him down in time. And lastly, when he has been caught and is being dragged to Hell, having the tiny saw enables him to escape his chains. By facing what he did (opening the box) and accepting other's help and understanding (Fiona, a stand in for his mother, saving him after intuiting he is suffering) he is finally granted an opportunity to save and forgive himself.

Thought the donkey was a rabbit and Fiona saved him/died in the same costume? Also the ending has the goat skull by the bottle. It made me think of the first scene together with Jimmy when he has the dead goat plus bottle of mushrooms. The mushrooms were the map that led to truth

13:26 From my understanding, Bachman didn’t complete the chalk circle, that’s why he was caught by the witch and shackled, but the spirit of his mother protected; he was ready to give up his life, but his mom forgave him.

My favorite film of the year so far.