Passenger

Middle child syndrome is no joke so I have only sympathy for PASSENGER, the hapless horror film born between legit phenomenon OBSESSION and the highly anticipated BACKROOMS. It probably doesn’t help when your siblings are giving off fresh, of the moment, cultural zeitgeist vibes and you gotta peddle a throwback campfire tale/boogeyman legend/haunted highway flick that emulates the eighties. On the other hand, director Andre (TROLLHUNTER, THE AUTOPSY OF JANE DOE, SCARY STORIES TO TELL IN THE DARK and THE LAST VOYAGE OF THE DEMETER) Ovredal is not exactly a slouch and there’s something comforting about an unambitious supernatural stalker tale that delivers dopey jump scares on the regular and is perfectly content drawing within the lines while magpie cribbing from every possible source . It’s all pretty mediocre for sure, but I didn’t mind being reminded of the wonderful “Terror in Topanga” opening segment from NIGHTMARES (’83) or the always exciting late night TV motorhome/van-in peril…