Passenger: A Standard Curse Film That Holds No Surprises (Blu-ray)

The Film:

Over the decades, the horror genre has grouped itself into fairly standard sub-genres, types of films that share the same focus or approach, and quite often follow a rather familiar course of execution. This includes groups like slashers, supernatural films, body horror, and your good-old-fashion zombie flicks, but one that seems to have been getting a lot of attention lately is the "Curse" film, which does indeed bring with it a pretty rigid outline in regards to what's going to happen within the confines of its sub-genre.

We've seen it time and time again, quite recently in fact with films like "Smile" and "Whistle," but director Andre Ovredal and screenwriters Zachary Donohue & T.W. Burgess have decided to throw their hat in the ring and give us yet another with "Passenger," where they attempt to drum up some scares with a rather stressful road trip. Will they be able to bring anything new to what's quickly becoming an overdone subject, or will this merely be another cliched trip to toss on the heap of its predecessors?

The film opens with two friends, Lucas (Miles Fowler) and Daniel (Alan Trong), driving down a dark road. They pull over so Lucas can pee, but Daniel is suddenly killed by an unknown assailant, causing Lucas to flee the scene. Meanwhile, we meet our main couple, Maddie (Lou Llobell) and Tyler (Jacob Scipio), who quit their jobs and have decided to just drive around in a van instead, with the two also becoming engaged as they celebrate six weeks of being on the road.

While driving one night, they happen to see Lucas speed by them in his car, eventually pulling over when they find him crashed into a tree, where he too is killed by the unknown entity. Later that morning, they find what look like three claw marks on their van, just like the ones on Lucas' car. Later on, at a gathering of other folks living in vans, Maddie meets Diana (Melissa Leo), who tries to warn her not to stop on the road at night, but by then it's too late, as Maddie soon starts seeing the figure that claimed the lives of the previous pair. Can she possibly survive long enough to figure out how to beat this deadly curse?

When it comes to "Curse" films, you're generally going to find a very similar series of events from film to film, usually starting with a brief introduction to the characters and how they pick up said curse. Sometimes this is done through the sheer ineptitude of the characters themselves, such as the geniuses in "Whistle" that blow on the creepy titular instrument, but mostly it's done through the classic happenstance of being in the wrong place at the wrong time, which is to say that it's passed on through no particular fault of their own, like in "Smile."

With "Passenger," we have another case of the latter, where Maddie & Tyler are merely trying to be good Samaritans by stopping at the site of Lucas' accident, obviously having no clue what this would subsequently lead to. As a result, what we basically have is a somewhat different curse, and yet, still the same old story, for what follows is pretty much what anyone familiar with these films would expect.

Naturally, the filmmakers try to wring a few thrills & chills out of having the entity torment Maddie for a good portion of the film before finally including Tyler as well, which is followed by the next familiar beat of locating the person who can tell them all about the curse and how to stop it. Finally, we come to their big attempt to do just that, bringing it to a neat & orderly end as it checks off the final box on the list (in this instance, they decline the further cliche of an ambiguous ending).

When all is said and done, if you don't mind it being rather cliched & formulaic, you might find something to like here, such as a cheap scare or two, but if you're longing for something a little more original and not quite so predictable, it's probably best to skip it and look elsewhere. They may seem a bit rare, but we have had some good films of this type in the past, such as "Ringu/The Ring" and "Drag Me to Hell," but those came with their own touch of compelling originality, which is sadly not something you're going to find in "Passenger." In the end, with no such effort made, all we can really do is ask the question: What was the point?

Video/Audio:

"Passenger" comes to Blu-ray in a 2.39:1, 1080p High Definition transfer of excellent quality. This is another horror entry that can be very dark at times, but the picture always remains perfectly sharp & clear throughout its entire 93-minute duration. Likewise, the Dolby Atmos audio track is fantastic, giving you all of the dialogue, sound effects, and music in outstanding quality. Overall, Paramount has done a marvelous job in both areas for the film's physical debut.

Special Features:

None.

Conclusion:

Andre Ovredal's "Passenger" does its best to drum up some scares with its dark tale of an engaged couple being terrorized by an evil entity while living on the road, but with its rather strict adherence to the standard, cliched curse formula, it sadly offers very little in the way of originality, ultimately making for a rather predictable journey that fails to provide any surprises.

Score: 2.5/5

Available on Blu-ray starting today.

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