A young couple picks up a demonic hitchhiker in the familiar, but tight & effective, horror flick from Andre Ovredal.
Hey, lady, thanks for the ride!
A couple new to the Van Life lifestyle, pick up an unwanted passenger in Andre Ovredal’s aptly named passenger. In some ways, Passenger is a little generic, following the well-driven path of similar films, but it is also simple and effective, arriving exactly where it’s driving towards. Passenger, written by Zachary Donohue and T.W. Burgess (coming soon: Kim interviewing Donohue, will update with a link when it’s posted), doesn’t reinvent the wheel (nor is it really trying to), delivering an acceptable mid-tier horror flick for a fun night out. Want horror this week, but don’t want the Obsession depression? Then sit in the Passenger seat.
Ty and Maddie, played by Jacob Scipio and Lou Llobell, both a little bland, but she gives more, are two 20-somethings starting a new life: hitting the road in a van. A purposeful Nomadland sort. New to the road, they don’t know the rules: don’t drive at night, and if you do, never stop. Nothing good can come from it. (Some friends and I almost got ourselves in a bad situation stopping for a burning car in the very darkened woods outside of Summerville, SC; lots of stories of similar out there. Just call 911 and keep going). For their trouble in helping a motorist (from the very well done cold open – aka the trailer), they gain a tagalong in the form of a hitchhiking ghost. And not the fun type from the Haunted Mansion. Taking the form of a lean, white-faced preacher, played menacingly enough through the generic by Joseph Lopez, they have to try to figure out how to get rid of him before he leads them to their doom. With the help of Older Exposistion Giver Melissa Leo, they hit the road to search for help. Luckily for them and us (otherwise we don’t have a movie), The Passenger loves to toy with his victims. Passenger pretty much drives the GPS route this plot puts in, but Ovredal guides it effectively and knowingly. Additionally, Donohue and Burgess keep the script tight around the pair, with little fluff and no extraneous sequences or characters, which goes a long way. They are likable enough with enough backstory to give more than just “kids on the road.”
It is slightly strange to me that a well-established director is helming Passenger. It feels like the script of “hey, fresh new guy, we saw your awesome short and know you have a banger of a script in your back pocket, but you gotta prove to the suits you can handle a budget and full crew. Deliver this on time and under budget, and definitely done, and you can make your project next.” But maybe it’s good Ovredal drives Passenger. Whether the found footage in the astonishing Troll Hunter or the tense and surprising Autopsy of Jane Doe, he knows how to get the most out of the visuals and set-ups (with small budgets). Passenger connects most to the Guillermo Del Toro-produced Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark: mining a tight effectiveness from a servicable script and meh actors.
He brings a special spice to the film, elevating it to make it snappy and occasionally scary. He has a fantastic visual touch and a full understanding of setting up scenes to be effective and sharp. While some jumps are obvious, there are just as many scare sequences that have a great build, using the darkness nd shadow to great effect, especially in the negative space. Orveal generally avoids going cheap (and I wonder if the eye-roll jump scares are producer demands), instead letting the dread of the scene build. We know it’s coming, and the fun is watching it unfold. A specific standout finds Maddy in a nearly otherworldly loop with the monster, as the sounds and unseen loom. Overall, Orvedal gives a strong, uncomfortable liminal space to the open roads; whether it be the winding mountain roads of trees looming in, enclosing in claustrophobia, or the open desert, the nighttime “something is out there, and none of this is right” atmosphere is thick. 
Of interest to the Washington State folks reading and me: this is filmed in and around Seattle/North Bend, and Wenachee. Weirdly, where Seattle is often played by other cities (usually Vancouver), here Seattle and environs fill in for the rest of the country. Pioneer Square is now Brooklyn, where we see the old storefront of Spooked in Seattle, the ghost tour company that Kim and I both used to work for! A motel (pictured) is two blocks away from my son’s day care! And a stop at Twede’s, aka the Double R from Twin Peaks in North Bend, is notable. For non-Washingtonians, once you head east of the Cascades, the land becomes a barren desert that always reminds me of Near Dark; said desert outside Wenatchee plays the southwest!
Passenger gives a familiar ride in the road trip from hell, but that doesn’t mean Andre Ovredal hasn’t set up a dull journey on the route. Ovredal keeps it tight and contained, based on DZachay Donohue & T.W. Burgess’s script, creating a simple and effective joyride. Passenger makes a fine diversion into a mid-tier horror for 95 minutes. Hitch a ride.