Passenger
- 3 minutes ago
- 3 min read
Far better than it has any right to be, PASSENGER somehow stretches its paper thin horror concept into an entertaining 97 minutes by cleverly creating some intriguing roadside mythology.
It's also thanks to it's strong leads, Jacob Scipio as Tyler and Lou Llobel as Maddie. The young couple have decided to live van life after their neighborhood seems to be taking a turn for the worse and the road beckons.
Scipio is ALL in, leaving all the stress of a high pressure job behind and embracing their new nomad life, aimlessly wondering from one spot to the next.
Maddie, not so much. She's having trouble adjusting, especially after the couple come across an accident on the side of the road and spooky events begin to surround them. Is something evil aboard their van, why are there suddenly talon like scratch marks on the side of their vehicle?
The film coasts a bit in its first third on creating many effective jump scares, well shot by Director Andre Ovredal (The Last Voyage of the Dementer, Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark).
The film's well staged prologue comes into play as well, giving us just enough insight into the strange events to get us hooked.
I kept waiting for the film to stall, thinking that the "something creepy has crawled into your car" storyline would fizzle out quickly. But writers Zachary Donahue and TW Burgess layer the scares in stages. They also create an unfolding mystery that keeps you engaged as Maddie goes online to try and find out if anyone else has experienced what they're going through.
The scares are creepy and there's no skimping on the gore for those you wandering.
The film also serves up some fun practical effects, especially in a three minute, continuous shot where Maddie is walking to the van in the middle of a 24 Hour gym parking lot and the vehicle seems to be getting further away every time she looks. The scene was done without any cuts and special effects, in what must have been a tough scene to get right. Great camerawork.
Scipio (Bad Boys: Ride or Die) is very good as Tyler and his reactions to the growing events around them always ring true. Llobel is terrific as Maddie, serving up the exact right mix of emotions that we'd feel in these circumstances. This isn't one of those horror flicks where the characters do incredibly stupid things to serve the scares.
The film is actually the most effective when the scares are less literal, but the finale is a crazy, bloody fever dream as the mysterious "Passenger" becomes flesh and blood, determined to claim the young couple as his prize.
Academy Award Winner Melissa Leo (The Fighter, Prisoners) is slumming in a brief role as a older van life devotee who seems to know a whole lot about what scares you on the darkest highways across the country.
Scipio and Llobel have great on screen chemistry and create a hell of a lot of tension, especially challenging when you realize that so much of the film takes place inside that van. When the camera does come out of the van, it seems to always be in the right place for scares on a larger scale.
From the poster and the trailer, my question going in was, "How are they going to make an entire movie out of that little concept?" Well, the answer is, quite effectively.
There are touches of creativity throughout that elevate it above a rote summer horror entry. One of my favorites sees Tyler and Maddie in a remote forest, projecting "Roman Holiday" onto a large sheet strung between two trees. When they realize they aren't alone, they use the projected image to illuminate the dark, deep woods around them.
It's creative, suspenseful and clever. Like the rest of PASSENGER, beyond expectations. Buckle up, this one gets a fun, taut B.
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