When it comes to urban legends on the roadways, also known simply as “Road Ghosts”, there is an absolute smorgasbord of dubious tales to pick from. And without tooting our own bugle, we’ve got a shit-ton of them in the UK! Take your pick from the “Hairy Hands of Dartmoor”, to the “Blue Bell Hill Bride”, and not forgetting Kinmount Straight or Stocksbridge Road. You can Google each one of those to find a rich mythology of allegedly genuine paranormal events and a supposed history of tragic death. Some of which are authentically spine-chilling in their details. Personally, we’d love someone to tackle a cinematic version of the “Hairy Hands” story. Ben Wheatley, anyone? Be that as it may, we’re overdue for an automobile-based fright film, and here comes Passenger. It is coupled with the worrisome (and probably fact-stretching) tagline: “130 million people take road trips every year. 15,400 of them are never seen again.” Riiii-iiight. It’s directed by André Øvredal and written by T.W. Burgess and Zachary Donohue. The cast includes Jacob Scipio, Lou Llobell, and Melissa Leo. Øvredal is an immensely respected filmmaker in the genre field, and if he had never made any further films after Troll Hunter (2010) and The Autopsy of Jane Doe (2016), he would still get a solid and respectful salute from horror fans for those terrific movies. So, start up the engine and buckle up, you’re in for a spooky ride.

 

The movie opens with a familiar scene for those who have seen the teaser and the trailer. So immediately, you know what’s coming. (*sigh* Why, though?) Anyway, two bros on the open road stop for a piss-break in a deserted woodland road, but one is messily killed by an apparently supernatural force. Cue, Bro No. 2 racing down the highway being terrorised by a ghostly hitchhiker. Then we go back six weeks (hold tight, it’ll make sense in a moment) to meet Tyler (Scipio) and Maddie (Llobell). A young, upwardly mobile couple in the big city, they have made the life-changing decision to sell their apartment and are embarking on “van-living” for the foreseeable future. Travelling off-grid and mostly out of their vehicle, it’s something that Tyler has been dreaming of for a while, with Maddie being fully supportive of the massive change. Coming back to the present day, they’re still living the dream, although a few cracks are beginning to show. They encounter the same car we witnessed in the prologue being driven erratically, and they stop to investigate when it crashes ahead of them. The driver is toast, but there is something odd about the whole thing and Tyler’s van is subsequently marked with a sinister set of scratches. Whilst they continue down the road and mingle with fellow nomads, Maddie feels as if they are being haunted by something and sees images of a lurking figure. A change meeting with wise van-lifer Diana (Leo) confirms that they have inadvertently found themselves attached to a demonic figure that’s been messing with travellers for a long time.

 

So, you get the picture. It’s Nomadland with a bogeyman. It’s also a curiously old-fashioned horror in many respects. There’s not a huge body count, and Øvredal milks the creepiness of dark roads and ominous woodlands. So, it’s also like Blair Witch with camper vans. That’s all well and good, and there are some outstanding moments during the running time, but there are also quite a few issues. Perhaps most importantly, even though the film is only 1hr 34m, it feels a lot longer. This is mainly because of the amount of time given over to establishing the characters of Tyler and Maddie. Scipio and Llobell both give good performances (especially Llobell at certain points). But to be honest, the characters are a little dull and overly earnest. That might sound a bit mean, especially when so many horrors feature characters with less charisma than a crisp packet. But the way the plot is organised, we generally get a scary scene, then a bit of character development, another scary scene, a bit of character conflict, and so on. And some of the character sequences feel like they go on for far too long. Sure, you root for the protagonists, but do we have to have their frailties poked in our faces every so often? It just feels like some of the storytelling could have been tightened and balanced a little more.

 

But what of the horror elements, you may ask? Well, they’re actually pretty good. Øvredal has got some of this stuff down to (literally) a fine art form. There is some genuinely outstanding camerawork and handsomely mounted sequences in the film. For example, the scene where Maddie leaves a gym at night and walks alone to the van is brilliantly conceived. The camera restlessly circles her as she is spooked by noises and strangers in the car park, culminating in several series of shocks as reality itself seems to be warping around her. Really good stuff. There’s also another inspired scene where the couple watch “Roman Holiday” on a sheet via a projector, which leads Maddie to use it as a light source when they get spooked, culminating in the image of poor old Gregory Peck being superimposed over something very nasty indeed! It’s these inventive moments that work the best. Øvredal plays with the visuals in many effective ways; figures illuminated in flashing hazard lights, making the blackness of nighttime woodlands so oppressive, and adding a multitude of covered bodies to a wasteland (which is surely a homage to the end of The Beyond)

 

All of that is very good. But it all feels a little stop-start, rather than a gradual rise in tension. In many respects, Tyler’s van becomes a “haunted house” of sorts, so we get the banging on the walls and dark figures lurking in the background, which feels a little cliched. The mythology around the “Passenger” feels a little loose and ill-defined as well. Keeping in with the “old-fashioned” feel, there’s a no-questions-asked emphasis on religious iconography, with it being a St Christopher medallion as a deterrent rather than a crucifix or holy water. In fact, it’s heavily hinted that the Passenger is the Anti-Christ(opher). But as creepy as the dead-skinned, hollow-eyed, driver-botherer is, the extent of his powers and capabilities is a little muddy. Sometimes he seems as powerful as the Smile Entity, able to zip about and impersonate other people. But then he keeps messing up when trying to off Tyler and Maddie. Another character suggests that he is “enjoying” their misery, but it seems awfully convenient when he offs other cast members so quickly. There’s even a Final Destination sequence with a car jack that seems destined to work but only causes a (nasty) injury. Is he an ageless demon who’s been causing deaths for aeons? The nomad community seem to know of him, but there’s little detail or depth otherwise.

 

Whilst we’re on the mythology, some Gremlins-type rules are given to avoid the attention of the Passenger. Don’t travel on deserted back roads, don’t travel at nighttime, and never, ever stop when driving. Well, given those precise rules, there’s a hell of a lot of driving at night. There’s also a lot of back roads travelling and a fair bit of vehicle stopping. There’s usually some kind of feeble reason for doing so, but it all seems a bit weak sauce. At one point, the Passenger even seems to magic it to nighttime to screw with the couple. So weird. We’re not expecting realism, but a little consistency would be nice. The idea of the demonic hitchhiker being responsible for deaths (or disappearances? That’s never made clear) is pretty cool, especially if he’s an ageless entity linked with a timeless backstory. Incidentally, are his shenanigans limited to the US, or does he hike further afield? *shrugs shoulders* But the extent of his powers is never really established, and despite a good portrayal by Joseph Lopez, he never becomes an iconic bogeyman that would require a sequel or further exploration.

 

All of that may seem pretty damning and disappointing. But for all the cliches, dull characters, and loose mythology, Passenger is definitely worth it for some of the superior scares. The climax is silly but breathtaking, and the only point where everyone seems to have gone “let’s just go for it!” Otherwise, the film is still worth catching for some of the masterclass jump scares and creepy build-ups that occur whenever the pacing lags a little. As stated before, Scipio and Llobell are pretty good as the leads, as is Leo (even though she feels extremely underused). And maybe we’ve been spoiled this month already with some superlative original horror, with the likes of Hokum and Obsession, so this feels like a little bit of a comedown, which is probably unfair. It’s not a bad horror, and some cracking sequences nail a skin-crawling atmosphere which is difficult to match. But it’s no Jane Doe. See it for the chills, but don’t expect a pile-up of excellence. And yes… There is predictably a cover version of Iggy Pop’s classic ditty. Also, thumbs-up for the use of the “Hawaii Five-0” theme and the prominence of a Bob Ross bobble head.