Passenger Is About a Van That Let the Wrong Thing Ride Along

Passenger is about a van that forgot it can refuse service.

Editor says stay with the plot. I did try but the title kept doing stuff.

A young couple sees a gruesome highway accident and then finds out a demonic presence called the Passenger did not stay behind. Everybody says nightmare. Chud says ride policy.

If something is called the Passenger, it thinks it is allowed in. That is the first problem. Names are behavior. You call a demon Passenger and it starts looking for leg room.

The couple is doing van life, which already means they live in a car with too many opinions. Then they witness a crash. Sad and scary, yes. But after that, the van should lock itself emotionally. Doors closed. No new riders. Especially not ones with darkness where their manners should be.

Instead the Passenger comes along. Bad customer. No luggage that I saw. No clean shoes. Probably does not split gas. Yet everyone treats it like a supernatural event when it is obviously transportation hospitality gone rotten. The movie did not say this directly, which is one of its problems.

I kept waiting for the van to beep twice and say absolutely not. But vans in movies never use boundaries. They just let people scream inside them and call it plot. A smarter critic may disagree, but they probably watched the main thing too much.

The highway is also at fault. Roads encourage strangers by going everywhere. A road should've a beginning, an end, and one employee with a flashlight saying you look demonic, wait here.

Passenger has good fear because vehicles at night are honest about being little boxes that can move you closer to mistakes. But the answer was simple. Do not pick up the Passenger. Do not make eye contact with the Passenger. If the Passenger asks where you are headed, say maintenance.

Chud's rating: scary enough, but the van needs training.

I am available to explain this to the director if they bring a chair.