A few weeks into their van life adventure, a young couple witnesses an accident that leaves the driver dead. Soon, they're being pursued by a demonic stalker who's impossible to outrun and follows them wherever they go.
Director: André Øvredal
Cast: Jacob Scipio, Lou Llobell, Melissa Leo, Joseph Lopez, Miles Fowler, Alan Trong
Release Date: May 22, 2026
Genre: Horror, Thriller
Rated R for strong violent content, some gore, and language.
Runtime: 1h 34m
Review:
Passenger is the kind of generic horror film that offers little more than a handful of generic jump scares and recycled plot points that won’t linger in your memory much after the film comes to a close. It’s strange to see André Øvredal deliver such a blasé film since he’s delivered a handful of solid films in his career like 2010’s Trollhunter and 2016’s The Autopsy of Jane Doe. The opening sequence offers up an interesting set up along with a nice use of panoramic camera to deliver a solid jump scare, unfortunately that sequence has been used ad nauseam as the film’s trailer. It doesn’t help that nothing after that point really provides any semblance of originality or inventiveness as the jump scares are telegraphed from a mile away. It doesn’t help that the plot is a nonsensical blend of Nomadland and demonic haunting horror. The rules for the highwayman from hell are also so incredibly generic that nobody would ever survive a road trip which makes most of what happens a tad difficult to take seriously. It would all be a bit easier to watch if the main characters were somewhat interesting instead of being the blandest flavor of vanilla. Jacob Scipio and Lou Llobell play the central couple who decide to live out their van life dream and get engaged along the way. They do what they can with the script but they lack any real chemistry together which makes it difficult to believe they’d just pick up and leave their, apparent affluent, lives to live on the on road. Small smatters of details are drop about their relationships but nothing that makes them all the interesting or engaging especially as the clichés start to mount up. Academy Award winner, Melissa Leo, pops up in what amounts to a glorified cameo that ultimately adds nothing to overall script outside of getting our cursed couple to the final location. There’s been a recent string of well-made horror film, unfortunately Passenger feels too much like a throwback to the kind of cookie cutter horror slop that has pervaded the genre for far too long.
D
