We literally went from Obsession, which will likely be a contender for horror movie of the year, to this steaming pile of turd. The comparison between these two movies is not even remotely fair, but I’m only mentioning it because both have just been released on streaming platforms and I watched them one after the other. I guess Passenger might pass for an average or typical horror movie for either the younger crowd or viewers who rarely watch the genre. It’s your typical Hollywood horror movie trope that relies heavily on jump scares, which I guess some viewers will call fun.

So we have a supernatural entity that preys on and marks its victims who stop their car in the middle of the night on forest roads. Yeah, that’s about all there is to it. We follow a couple wishing to become traveling nomads and, of course, they get tangled up in this bullshit and away we go, following them to see how the curse can be broken. Typical, but whatever. As I’d always like to say, just make it interesting and many, many things can be forgiven. But of course that doesn’t happen. I do think it could have, though — or at the very least gone in some other direction so it didn’t end up how it did.

Although I do commend them for trying to create some chemistry between Maddie and Tyler, I thought the story could have taken a different turn if they had allowed a third person to fight the Passenger demon alongside them. They did try to do this with Diane but, as we all saw, that didn’t go anywhere. I had initially thought that including that radio personality guy Tyler had a bro crush on might have made the story somehow more interesting, but I ultimately dismissed it. The whole backstory of the Passenger was practically non-existent — other than that he was a demon of some sort from a long time ago who travelled with a monk on the road and posed as a preacher. Or something like that. Doesn’t even matter. It’s a frigging demon and it’s out to get you if you stop your car. It’s supposedly weak to the patron saint Christopher. We saw a scene where Maddie was able to hurt it with the pendant, but later on, the Passenger was of course able to just bat all those pendants aside as if they were nothing. I mean, c’mon. And then that ending. Of course there was going to be an explosion of some sort — viewers at that point would likely be disappointed if there wasn’t one.

I think they should have stuck with showing more of how the Passenger messes with his victims. That scene in the parking lot where Maddie was trying to reach the van was not bad. The scenes where they played with the lighting added some tension — such as when they were watching the film in the forest and when their car’s tire popped. But ultimately, you’re just waiting for the jump scare to happen, because of course there’s going to be one. The movie has shown nothing else in terms of being an actual scary movie other than jump scares, so of course it’s going to happen. I think it gets cringey whenever the protagonists starts to physically “do battle” with the supernatural entity in a movie. I mean seriously, you have her literally driving the Passenger on top your car kicking, screaming and clawing right through a church in the middle of nowhere. How can I hold my laughter in at that point? Lastly, thank goodness they ended the movie without some clichéd ending hinting that the Passenger somehow survived. For that, I thank you, Saint Christopher.