Passenger wants you to be terrified of #VanLife. The new movie from André Øvredal, who you’ll know from Autopsy of Jane Doe (which still holds up- check it out if you haven’t seen it in a while), Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark and Last Voyage of the Demeter, takes scary on the road when a new to VanLife couple break a cardinal VanLife rule (according to this film) by stopping at the site of an accident to be decent human beings. They then pick up a spooky ghoul entity that haunts their rearview mirrors, their back up camera, and the Big Lots parking lot.
Because we’re only following one couple (played by Jacob Scibio & Lou Llobell), the entity is quickly defanged, resigned to jump scares and unable to pierce the plot armor of the leads. They can’t be killed or injured too seriously, or the road trip and his free trip across America is over. There is a really creative scare sequence with a film projector that was wonderful, but for the most part, the more you see the entity, the less you fear him. Which, by the end of the film, is quite a lot.
The film also tries to build up supernatural lore and rules for the entity, which doesn’t really earn enough to be a Samara level villain with her VHS tape and seven-day lore. That said, life on the road is full of superstitions, and apart from the Jeepers Creepers franchise, we haven’t explored a lot of the supernatural lore of life on the road. There are plenty of Hitcher’s and Joyrides, but not a whole lot of supernatural hitchhiker horrors…unless you count Disney’s Haunted Mansion.
Follow us for more horror reviews and check out our full thoughts on Passenger over on the Nightmare on Film Street horror podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. And while you’re at it, let us know what you thought of this new road trip nightmare over in the Nightmare on Film Street Discord. And definitely also share your own road trip horror stories with us while you’re at it. It’s scary out there…
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