Passenger

"Tyler" (Jacob Scipio) and "Maddie" (Lou Llobell) are a young couple who have decided to abandon the urban rat-race. She has done some interior design work on their old van, and so the pair set off for a life on the road. To be fair, she is a little less convinced by the romance of this new lifestyle and that only gets worse when they witness a nasty road accident on their first night out. That's just the start of their horrors though as things quite literally start going bump in the night. Is their new home possessed by some malevolent spirit? Well at a chance meeting at a camp of similar…

Passenger is a highly effective, incredibly tense supernatural thriller that breathes fresh, malevolent life into the road-trip horror subgenre, turning the concept of "van life" into a rolling prison of psychological dread. Director André Øvredal masterfully uses the cramped confines of a vehicle and the isolating darkness of the open road to build a slow-burn masterclass in atmospheric tension. The supernatural elements are handled with great restraint, relying heavily on deep shadows, sudden shifts in perspective, and excellent sound design rather than cheap jump scares. Grounded by…

This was quite lovely. The tension builds because you get to know the characters and you can invest in their well-being. They aren't easily exchangeable teenagers being trapped in a cabin in the woods. These are two individuals with backstory and motivations that are trapped in a moving hell of their own making. The passenger is a fantastic monster and it doesn't get a reveal too early, which would have cheapened it. Instead, it gets built up in exposition and in tension until it becomes quite frightening. I had a good time watching this movie, and I recommend it to all those who are…

Initially this movie draws you in. But after that I think it becomes more predictable and less creative. I would give this a 6.5/10. Still worth a watch.