Film Review: Passenger (2026)

Release Date: May 22, 2026; Director: André Øvredal; Stars: Jacob Scipio, Lou Llobell, Joseph Lopez

“People don’t take trips. Trips take people.” — Diana, Passenger (2026)

Øvredal’s Passenger (2026) is a very scary horror movie. I enjoyed every minute of it. A couple decides to live the nomadic life and set out to travel across the United States of America. While on their journey, they stop to help a victim of a car crash where an evil entity latches onto them. For the rest of their journey, they are tormented by an ancient demon of the highway called The Passenger (played by Joseph Lopez).

The building of the horror works so well in this film. One of my favorite scenes displays this excellently and had me quite terrified while viewing. In the scene, Maddie (played by Lou Llobell) is walking alone at night from the gym where both her and her fiance, Tyler (played by Jacob Scipio), workout and rely upon for their daily showers. As she walks, there is silence except for the mysterious running footsteps that approach her. She is full of fear and stops to look around for the owner of the footsteps. The camera does a 360 pan showing no one else in sight except Maddie. After this long camera shot, the van has been positioned further away. This pattern happens a couple of times and frightens both Maddie and me. Here, the idea of being isolated, at night, in darkness (the area lights go out completely at one point in the scene), being followed and the safe haven (vehicle) being far away is quite terrifying. All of these elements, plus the camera panning shot work great in building the horror. Other bone-chilling instances throughout the film, like items going missing, fresh apples completely rotting over night, and the physical manifestations of The Passenger all work equally well. I especially like the addition of mythology and folklore through the “hobo code” which is a collection of secret signs and symbols meant to warn people of danger and how to get out of it. Also within the hobo code are two important rules which Maddie and Tyler break — 1) Don’t drive at night and 2) Don’t stop.

I cannot help but speak briefly about the nomadic community. There are many people throughout America who have opted for a life on the road, free from rent, mortgages, other bills, obligations and responsibilities that come with living a non-nomadic, stationary life. Many adopt this type of lifestyle because of the economy and the inability to keep up with inflation. Another movie that explores this and is worth viewing is Nomadland (2020, dir. Chloé Zhao).

Despite its rollercoaster ride of horror, Passenger actually has a happy ending. This film is the first scary movie I have seen in which all of the main characters actually survive. That is impressive for a horror. Passenger is a great horror flick and worth every penny you pay to go see it.