Passenger

Given how many haunted house films there are, you’d be forgiven for thinking that a camper van and the open road seem like the safer option, supernaturally-speaking. Living the Nomadland life, you can only be haunted by the price of petrol. Alas, this effective horror suggests that the roads themselves are a hunting ground for malignant spirits, and that even a cute camper van can’t keep you entirely safe.

A violent prelude, wittily revisited later, establishes the stakes for the unwary traveller. Then we meet our heroes as they pack up their Brooklyn apartment and head out on a cross-country – or criss-crossing country – trip. These are Maddie (Lou Llobell) and Tyler (Bad Boys 4’s Jacob Scipio), a pair of loved-up young professionals. One grew up in foster care; the other in an unhappy family. Short of giving each of them a basket of puppies, it’s hard to see how they could be any more sympathetic.

Unfortunately, after stopping at the scene of a crash to try to render assistance, they pick up a strange presence who makes their trip of a lifetime deadly dangerous. The pair will have to find a way to undo the curse before they too fall victim to ‘the passenger’.

Passenger opts for creepiness over carnage

This is the first film in three years from Troll Hunter’s André Øvredal, after his very effective Dracula-themed The Voyage of the Demeter was dropped unceremoniously onto streaming, and it feels like he’s glad to be back, bursting with new scares. While Passenger has moments of gore, he opts for more creepiness than carnage. The lanky form of Joseph Lopez’s phantom lurks in the shadows or appears in a rear-view mirror with alarming frequency. There’s a really effective scene late at night in a deserted car park that will feel horribly familiar for viewers, especially female ones, and a nerve-wracking tire change that will have you screaming at the screen about proper tool management. The film also uses a jewel of Paramount’s back catalogue cleverly, so that even if seasoned horror fans will find a few scares are telegraphed early, there’s a lot here to enjoy.

There are few big surprises in how this turns out, however, with a role for St Christopher, traditionally the patron saint of travellers, and lots of plucky determination from the young lovers despite their blithering terror. But that’s okay, because it’s really about the scares we felt along the way. This auto horror may occasionally stray into the middle of the road, but it hits some very satisfying bumps.

In cinemas worldwide Fri May 22.