Take a Familiar yet Fun Trip in Paramount’s Road Trip Horror Passenger (2026)
Title: Passenger
First Non-Festival Release: May 20, 2026 (Theatrical Release)
Director: André Øvredal
Writer: Zachary Donohue, T.W. Burgess
Runtime: 94 Minutes
Starring: Lou Llobell, Jacob Scipio, Melissa Leo, Joesph Lopez
Where to Watch: Check out where to find it here
Road trips used to be a bigger part of American society. Entire industries were propped up by the relatively short-lived phenomenon, borne from the realities of traveling in a large, industrialized nation. With the advent of more efficient modes of personal transportation, Passenger reflects on the new state of road culture left in the wake. Once characterized by the absolute freedom that the open road inspires, Passenger flips that idea on its head by sourcing its horror directly from travel.
Fresh-faced van-life bloggers Maddie (Lou Llobell) and Tyler (Jacob Scipio) are only a few weeks into their cross-country adventure when the honeymoon phase fades. The humdrum reality of the road takes over while the couple continues flexing their free time and lack of physical ties. As the duo navigates this new stage in life, Maddie begins getting cold feet. Ever since the couple intervened during a particularly violent car crash, Maddie is unable to shake the feeling that something is watching her. Peeling away the layers of the mystery, the couple races to rid themselves of a parasitic spirit before it claims anymore victims on the road.
Underwhelming for sure, Passenger delivers serviceable supernatural horror from assured director André Øvredal.
Thrust into the earnest yet subtly creepy world of van life influencers and lifers, Passenger wastes no time establishing stakes in a riveting cold open before shifting to the warmer, more nostalgic depiction of Maddie and Tyler. The cheap shock fades quickly, as the two make a series of escalating dumb choices that suck the life out of the story by way of sing-song cadences and sugary platitudes. With story-killing precision, the more Passenger leans into the uninteresting story of its couple, the further it strays from its more compelling story about traveling and the ways in which it inspires horror throughout history. Maddie and Tyler’s relationship problems serve as the parallel story to the relentless spirit stalking them across the nation’s backroads. The little meat that remains on the bone is spoiled, overcooked from setting the duo up as pitiful and overzealous.
While there’s plenty to explore within the world that Passenger creates, T.W. Burgess and Zachary Donohue’s script is more interested in the anemic chemistry of the central couple. Set in a world where the power of love overcomes all odds, Passenger makes its journey familiar in terms of destination and approach. It’s admittedly interesting entity never gets fleshed out beyond necessary lore dumps. Terrorizing without much foundation, the spirit behind Passenger delivers sufficient popcorn thrills but doesn’t do much beyond executing a solid jump scare every now and then. With the wide expanse of the United States’ vast network of roads, the terror of Passenger is curiously contained to the isolation of empty forest roads and late-night buildings abandoned by all those with an opening shift in their morning’s future.
What initially represents their freedom instead signifies their encroaching death. Pairing the claustrophobia of the van’s insides with the emptiness and darkness of the road, Passenger adequately communicates its thesis visually. Relying on shadows and negative space to convey the idea that safety requires stability, structure, and proximity to others, Passenger makes the audience literally afraid of living without a home, the reality for so many.
Anthropomorphizing the fears of homelessness, Passenger crudely drafts an avatar for the angst an entire generation has with the concept of settling down or adhering to a traditional life trajectory. A list of eerily ambiguous rules and their arbitrary use solidify this idea further. Each person must trade convenience for their dreams lest they be punished for their transgression of not toiling, daring for a second to focus on something that isn’t inherently productive. It isn’t a mystery as to why the entity draws so much inspiration from Christian theology, notorious for promoting this type of bootstraps thinking.
Despite its clunkier story elements, the horror of Passenger is pretty sick. Balancing lonely desert RV chase scenes with dread-inducing pauses where the invisible entity remains cloaked underneath the cover of darkness, Passenger executes some seriously fun scares. Øvredal does well operating in the blackness, letting the camera naturally glide through the tension threatening to suffocate the couple at any given moment. It’s action-heavy, preferring to toss around its protagonists rather than just get it over with. Passenger likes to play with its food, even if it doesn’t go anywhere interesting enough to demand such drive. Well-choreographed scares and agile camerawork do plenty to keep Passenger afloat.
An eye-catching marketing campaign and clever hook allow Passenger to grow beyond the confines of its high concept premise. Øvredal’s excellent visual direction and eye for remarkable action sequences raise the supernatural horror’s stock tremendously. It’s in the execution where Passenger gets bogged down, unable to remain buoyed from its unfocused story and cringy dialogue. Decidedly creepy moments juxtaposed against more eyebrow-raising story concerns see Passenger speed across the finish line without much fanfare.
Overall Score? 6/10
