Talk about bad timing! That’s what I’d say plagued André Øvredal’s Passenger, the horror flick Paramount released earlier this summer — on May 22nd. It had the terrible misfortune of opening smack-dab between the two biggest horror sleeper sensations in recent years, Curry Barker’s Obsession and Kane Parsons’ Backrooms, both of which grossed over $200 million domestically. By contrast, Passenger was only able to scrape out about $18 million total, as horror fans were too caught up with those other movies to give it a fair shake (our critic was lukewarm on it).
Now, Passenger is being given a second chance, with it setting its Paramount Plus streaming date for August 20th. No doubt the studio is hoping to take advantage of the dog days of summer and bring some attention to a movie they had high enough hopes for that they gave it a wide summer theatrical release. Passenger stars Jacob Scipio and Lou Llobell as “a young couple who, after witnessing a gruesome highway accident, soon realize they did not leave the crash scene alone. A demonic presence called the Passenger has latched onto them, and won’t stop until it claims them both, turning their van life adventure into a nightmare.”
André Øvredal has helmed a solid number of well-received horror flicks, including the underrated The Autopsy of Jane Doe, as well as Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark. His last film, The Last Voyage of the Demeter, didn’t make much of an impact, with it having suffered a number of release date delays. Passenger had a smoother ride to theaters and might have fared better at the box office had it not had to go up against Obsession and Backrooms. Now that it will be streaming, perhaps horror fans who are signed up with Paramount Plus will give it a shot.
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