Passenger (2026) - 6/10

Roads at night are inherently spooky aren’t they. Especially quiet ones, no street lights, no other cars, the possibility of being  possessed by dark forces. Lucas (Miles Fowler) needs a wee. Not a good idea obviously, this is a horror film after all. He’s not alone, but he soon will be as his mate meets his maker… or rather something more demonic. As pre-title scenes go, it’s a cracker. After the initial jump scares (of which there’ll be many) we meet Tyler (Jacob Scipio) and Maddie (Lou Llobell) who are heading out on a new life, in a van… on the road… where they’ll meet Lucas in a car crash, and… The Passenger (Joseph Lopez). It’s full of tropes, half seen visions in the dark, POV camera tricks, biblical references, creepy ladies spilling folklore, the result of which is the knowledge they’ve been marked. Tyler to start is oblivious, excited by their new found freedom, but Maddie is hearing things seeing things, namely the titular character. For all the telegraphed scares, it is very creepy and very effective. The scene with the projector used as a torch is wonderful and there’s some lovely sound design. True, Tyler and Maddie do all the stupid stuff you shouldn’t do, like camping in forests when you’ve just been strangled by a demon in your van, but again they clearly don’t know they’re in a horror film. You’ve probably seen a lot of films like this before, I know I have, but honestly it’s a lot of fun and much better than some reviews would suggest. It’s not great, it wouldn’t stand up to repeat viewing, but while you’re on it, the road it travels is entertaining. Plus, Bob Ross gets multiple mentions and that’s always a good thing.

6/10