With Hokum, Obsession, and more, May is set to be a stacked month for horror fans

Adam Scott as Ohm Bauman in Hokum - Courtesy of NEON

Horror fans have plenty to be excited about once the calendar page flips to May soon. Nearly every single weekend marks another major theatrical release for the genre. So, grab your popcorn and order your tickets. Here are four major horror movies releasing in May.

Hokum (May 1)

Damien McCarthy's third feature, Hokum, already earned positive buzz at the Overlook Film Festival and Panic Fest. In fact, The Hollywood Reporter said it's one of the best horror films of the first half of the year. With his previous two features, Caveat and Oddity, McCarthy has proven he's a master at establishing a creepy atmosphere and sense of dread. His latest film is being released by NEON and stars Adam Scott as Ohm Bauman, who travels to a remote Irish village to scatter his parents' ashes. Once there, he becomes trapped in a mystery involving a missing woman. This causes him to confront his past and unresolved trauma.

Check out the trailer for Hokum.

Obsession (May 15)

Other than Hokum, few horror movies are generating as much buzz in the first half of the year as Curry Barker's Obsession. The movie just took home the Audience Award for Feature Film at the Overlook Film Festival, and prior to that, it premiered at the South by Southwest Film Festival in Austin, TX back in March. The Horror Lounge's Jacob Harper wrote in his SXSW review of Obsession, "Barker's script takes the classic 'monkey's paw' horror motif and dials it up to 11, lined with enough dread that left me tensed up in my seat for the majority of the film's runtime." The movie stars Michael Johnston as Bear and Inde Navarrette as Nikki. Bear quickly realizes that maybe it wasn't a good idea to make a wish regarding his childhood crush Nikki. Meanwhile, Barker has been tapped by A24 to direct the next Texas Chainsaw Massacre movie. Barker initially made a name for himself with his short films and his quasi feature-length film Milk & Serial, which were posted on YouTube.

Check out the trailer for Obsession.

Passenger (May 22)

André Øvredal returns with Passenger, starring Jacob Scipio, Lou Llobell, and Melissa Leo. The film follows a young couple on a road trip who witness a fatal accident and then become hunted by a relentless, demonic presence simply known as the "Passenger." No matter how much the couple tries to outrun the stalker, it always finds them. In my opinion, Øvredal made one of the best horror movies of the last decade, The Autopsy of Jane Doe, so there's reason to be excited about his latest feature.

Here's the trailer for Passenger.

Backrooms (May 29)

Finally, the month wraps up with the A24 movie Backrooms. Directed by Kane Parsons, this one is based on Parsons' web series and the viral internet creepypasta about empty, yellow rooms. The movie stars Chiwetel Ejiofor as Clark, who discovers a doorway to another dimension. When a team tries to document what happened, they end up trapped in the maze-like space.

View the trailer below.