PASSENGER (2026) REVIEW | Haunted Road Trip Delivers The Scares!

Added: 2026-05-30

[00:00:00]Did Passenger deliver on its haunted road trip style setup? Well, let's talk a little bit about it.

[00:00:05]>> What's your favorite scary movie?

[00:00:07]>> Be afraid. Be very afraid.

[00:00:10]>> I want to be a fighter like you.

[00:00:11]>> Oh, let it burn. Let it burn.

[00:00:15]>> Did you miss me?

[00:00:16]>> You have to shoot them in the head. They always come back.

[00:00:19]>> The boat can leave now. Tell the crew.

[00:00:22]>> But sometimes that is better. Good luck.

[00:00:27]>> Hey everybody, I'm Killjoy Jake. Today we're going to be talking a little bit about Passenger. Before we get into all of this, please make sure to like this video, subscribe, press all the buttons on this page so you don't miss any horror reviews that go up on here. I'll also warn you that we are going to get into spoilers for today's review. So, make sure you've seen the movie first before we go any further. All right, now let's talk a little bit about Passenger 2026.

[00:00:52]A few weeks into their van life adventure, a young couple witness an accident that leaves the driver dead.

[00:00:58]Soon, they're being pursued by a demonic stalker who's impossible to outrun and follows them wherever they go. Passenger is the latest feature from director Andre Overdall, director of The Autopsy of Jane Doe, as well as scary stories to tell in the dark, my two favorite films from the dude. I couldn't help but get really hyped up for Passenger, especially after that surprise teaser trailer that was attached to Primeate earlier on this year. It was essentially a shortened version of the opening scene of this film with one of the craziest jump scares literally in all of 2026 horror. Both of the movies in question here come from 18 Herz Productions. And while I really enjoyed that Kujo inspired creature feature from January, this one just didn't deliver as hard as I wanted it to. And boy, did I want it hard.

[00:01:40]The strengths of this film do stay consistent with that creepy teaser, though. The scares deliver often with some unique setups. For instance, a scene about halfway through features the focal couple, Tyler and Maddie, watching a movie in the woods with a projector.

[00:01:53]We get this Freddy Krueger inspired scare where the entity presses his face through the stretchy screen and a very well-timed jump scare a few minutes later which was probably the most effective moment throughout the entire film for me. The passenger both has some really interesting lore and can alter reality in a very similar way to the demon from Smile. This sadly falls into a similar situation as that first Smile film too where I feel like the coolest part about this entity isn't utilized enough in favor of just typical jump scares. There's a scene, for instance, where Maddie is trying to walk back to the van and every time she turns around and hears something creepy, she looks back at the van and it's super far away again. That reminds me a lot of in Smile when Sosi Bacon's character like doesn't know what the hell's going on, and she accidentally packs up a dead cat and gives it to a little kid. This movie never goes that far, sadly, and again is mostly just a bunch of jump scares.

[00:02:39]Speaking of the Smile movies, though, I kind of hope Smile 3 is a road trip movie so that they can do this concept, but better. That would be awesome. This movie isn't terrible, though, by any means. I mean, the cinematography and sound design here are crazy impressive.

[00:02:51]I'd go so far as to say some of the best of 2026. Watching this movie with surround sound was so crazy creepy.

[00:02:58]There's a few shots throughout the film that spin around a focal point, and you can hear creepy [ __ ] going on all around you. It's a super immersive technique leading up to a good scare that makes this one much more effective. The story and characters are very lacking in this one, but I think the scare is totally delivered. Speaking of which, the plot here ends up being really generic and formulaic, despite the fact that we do have a really cool setup. Maddie and Tyler move out of their actually sick-l lookinging apartment. I'm kind of shocked they left this behind. I'll take it to do the whole van life thing. And Maddie realizes she misses normal life after a few weeks. Not to lean too far into hyperbole here, but I've basically just spoiled the entire plot of the movie for you. The characters are paper thin, and I couldn't really tell you much about them or the dynamic of their relationship besides the fact that they're in love. They're so underwritten that it makes any scene without scares or creepy happenings feel flatter than a two-leader that's been left outside all weekend. It's kind of a bummer to me that my favorite characters from this entire movie were the two dude bros from the opening scene. Is it crazy to say I wish the film had just followed them instead? From their very little screen time together, I got a much more interesting dynamic happening there than anything else with our focal couple. You could tell they were kind of getting sick of each other on this trip and trying to stay awake during the long drive. That could have been a great fast-paced feature taking place across just one night with jump scares galore.

[00:04:14]Instead, this one ends up being up and down with its pacing. The biggest sin this movie commits, however, is its third act, where I just feel like not a whole lot of things are really making sense to me. The couple is told to visit a church that could keep them safe from the entity via the only side character that really matters here. What doesn't add up to me about this is that Maddie met up with Diana earlier in the film where the veteran road warrior warned her that she might have an evil entity attached to her. It's only an hour later into the film where they finally track down Diana again and she tells them, "Oh yeah, you could have just gone to this church in the middle of nowhere and you would have been safe." Diana, it's making you seem really dirty, as MJ would put it, that you didn't tell this couple that earlier. What gives? It kind of feels like the only reason we did that was cuz we needed a 90-minute movie. You know, Passenger was a tiny bit of a letdown to me considering how strong the marketing was. I was really hyped up for this film, man. It looked scary as hell. If you're just looking for some fun cheap haunted house style scares, you'll get that from this flick.

[00:05:06]So, if that's all you're looking for, go check it out. Otherwise, maybe just wait for streaming. I'm going to give Passenger a very generous 5 out of 10, cuz I think a lot of the behindthe-scenes stuff was really impressive here. The Scares Deliver, even if that script definitely needed some work. I still can't believe they didn't put that deaf tone song in here.

[00:05:21]Like, we we needed that. It's going down to a four out of 10 because we didn't have that that in here. That song goes so hard, dude.

[00:05:30]>> Also, to all the other horror filmmakers out there, more van life horror films, please. And thank you. This was a good idea, man. This was a really good idea.

[00:05:38]Here's how I would personally rank Passenger against the other 2026 horror flicks I have seen this year. What did you guys think about Passenger? Let me know your thoughts down in the comments below. Thank you all so much for watching. Please subscribe and as always, don't forget to kill it out there, y'all.