Passenger buckles you into a terrifying trip: A spoiler-free review
- Kazdyn Pierce
- 1 day ago
- 4 min read
There are many things that define American culture. Some say baseball, others might say bacon, but I believe the road trip is a quintessentially American pastime. Our country is massive and to explore it, you generally need a set of wheels and a lot of time on your hands. There are 3.9 million miles of road in the United States, with 3 million of those being rural. There is an inherently frightening thing about a road trip. You are hundreds of miles from everyone and everything you know with only the shell of a car and four wheels separating you from the vast unknown.
Of course, we have all heard stories of traps being left in the road to attack unsuspecting passerby who get out to assist, of horrifying creatures that briefly flash in the trees as you speed by. Maybe you have even had a harrowing experience on the road yourself, a creepy late night gas station or a town that just doesn’t feel quite right to be in after the sun sets. It begs the question, why have we never seen a horror concept centered around this shared experience many of us have? Sure we have seen them based around the destination, the end point after arrival, whether by choice or necessity but we have never seen a concept tackle the modern road trip itself. Passenger finally puts rubber to the road with a concept that takes place entirely in that liminal space, weaponizing these deep-seated fears we already hold.
Passenger is directed by Andre Øvredal, a name horror fans know from many projects, most notably Autopsy of Jane Doe. It stars Jacob Scipio (Bad Boys Ride or Die) and Lou Llobell (Voyagers) as Tyler and Maddie, a newly unshackled road warrior couple tackling life in a camper van retrofitted like a tiny house. Tyler’s dream is to live life on the open road, unbound to a desk, and Maddie is along for the ride. The film jumps six weeks into their road trip, and their troubles begin when we see them encountering an accident on a forested road at night. After stopping to help the motorist, they are pursued by the same invisible force that led to his deadly accident. As the mysterious figure follows them, they realize they can’t use the road to escape their aggressor and a fight for their life unfolds.
Passenger does a lot of things right, especially early. As a concept, it’s borderline brilliant. Road trips are inherently terrifying and they are liminal. It's hard to consider the scary thing being in the journey and not in the haunted house or the abandoned building at the end. It is one of the few films where the in-betweens are the most terrifying part. The technical elements are really well-done and where I feel like they utilized the vehicle elements the best. From the projector camp out scene, to the dashcam views, to the shots that use blinking hazard lights as a light source, the van was a quintessential part of how the film was shot and structured and that was really neat to see unfold.
Unfortunately, it seems Passenger was a film that was built out from its concept and not a world that was created that included the concept. The characters felt like they were vessels for the advancement of the plot and not real lived-in characters. They lacked depth and characterization, and throughout we learned more about the creature than we did our protagonists. The film only centered on their relationship and how the road life was affecting it, but it did not focus on them as people, their backgrounds, their family lives, or even their work that made them pursue this life in the first place. Establishing them would have better connected the audience and made the final act much more tense as their lives were in danger.
The vibes of a road trip were also notably absent throughout. The time skip to six weeks so early in the film robbed us of the initial excitement of our characters as they adjusted to life on the road, that wanderlust feeling of embarking on a new adventure. We picked up where the tension was already set in, life on the road was a chore, and the vibes were in a rut. It felt like we lost the essence of a true road trip to hurry to the scary stuff and while the van was utilized so well technically as a prop, it never felt like it had that open road soulful feeling that goes with a cross-country voyage.
Tonally, the film shifted quite a bit throughout. It started effectively, with a creepy and mysterious vibe, a following figure in the distance. It was very unnerving and really played on those feelings of being alone and unfamiliar. Somewhere after the midpoint, it felt like it completely flipped to monster hunt. They started overexposing the creature, and it lost its creepy element. By the end, it felt more like a PG-13 action adventure than a terrifying fight for survival. I much preferred the early elements of the film with creative scares, tension building and momentary glimpses of what they were running from.
Overall, Passenger had great bones. It contains truly creative kills, a fascinating concept, and dares to make a film about the journey and not the destination. It just didn’t quite have the gas to take us all the way home in the end and suffered from some tonal missteps and lack of true characterization. If you are looking to get a little spooked with an original story, Passenger is absolutely worth seeing. Just make sure you’re careful on your drive to the theater and while you are out there, remember to never stop at night.
You can check out Passenger in theaters everywhere this week.
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