“130 million people take road trips every year, 15,400 of them are never seen again.”
PASSENGER is a 2026 supernatural horror thriller film directed by André Øvredal, who previously directed The Autopsy of Jane Doe (preview and trailer here), from a screenplay by T.W. Burgess and Zachary Donohue. The film created quite a bit of buzz as the trailer played exclusively in theaters during Scream 7, but was not available online for several weeks.
After a young couple witnesses a gruesome highway accident, they soon realize they did not leave the crash scene alone, as a demonic presence called the Passenger won't stop until it claims them both.
The cast includes Melissa Leo, Lou Llobell, and Jacob Scipio.
PASSENGER is made its debut in theaters May 22nd, courtesy of Paramount Pictures.
PASSENGER tells the story of a young New York couple, Tyler and Maddie, who decide they are ready for a change. The couple decides to leave their Brooklyn apartment behind in exchange for a new lifestyle known as “van life”, a way of living made popular by the award-winning 2020 film, Nomadland. Leaving with only what they can fit in their new Mercedes Sprinter van, they hit the road on their new adventure.
PASSENGER is a very good horror movie and I felt like it checked all of the boxes for the most part. The film has great production value with a solid story, really solid acting especially for a horror film, and what I felt like was a quality horror feel throughout. The film attempts to create this unrelenting game of cat and mouse when this couple who decides to start living life out on the road finds themselves the target of this demonic entity, and for the most part it succeeds.
The film opens with what you see in the trailer which is essentially the introduction to this entity and what it is capable of. It quickly becomes a bit of a full circle moment as the characters that are the focus of the film find themselves intertwined with the unfortune the two individuals in the trailer experienced. To be honest after watching the trailer the premise for the film didn’t quite make sense to me, but I quickly realized it was all, part of the setup for the film.
Now my issues with PASSENGER admittedly go beyond whether it is a good horror film or not. For example, I felt like at times it fell victim to the simple issues that tend to plague horror films. First of all the pacing felt a bit inconsistent just in terms of how much this entity was impacting the lives of the characters in the film. The female lead was most impacted early on and for one reason or another her boyfriend never saw the entity so it was all business as usual for him. So a few times she would experience something pretty terrifying and find herself getting comforted and reassured by him.
Now this is all fine and good, but my issue was that she would go from being absolutely terrified to sort of fine after his reassurance, which for me didn’t quite fit. Like I get that he had a hard time grasping what she was experiencing, but I felt like the experiences should have been weighing on her more. Once he had his first encounter the feel of the film changes and it becomes a battle for survival, but the tone just felt a bit back and forth up until then.
Personally I just wish PASSENGER was scarier, but that could very well just be a me problem. It takes a lot to scare me, and in my personal opinion I wish they had gone in a different direction with the entity in the film. Don’t get me wrong he looks super creepy, but he just reminded me of a vampire or something along those lines and for some reason that just doesn’t really do it for me the way a creepy old lady can for example. I want something that looks right through you and makes the hairs on your neck stand up, and I just didn’t get that here.
THE VERDICT
An effective supernatural horror thriller with quality visuals and several timely jump scares, PASSENGER offers plenty to terrify average horror fans but may leave hardcore genre fans wanting more. As I mentioned in the review I wish the film had been scarier, but I also realize I have high expectations with horror movies. I still have no issue whatsoever recommending PASSENGER to be seen in theaters, plus I am all for this recent surge in quality horror movie releases.
TED TAKES RATING - 6.5/10
PASSENGER is now playing only in theaters. Check out the latest trailer below.