What gives Passenger the feel of a slowly deflating flat tyre is that it begins with a superb opening sequence. Even then, anyone who’s watched the trailer will have already seen all there is to it. When the two doomed friends (Miles Fowler and ) in the opening make way for Maddie and Tyler, the film immediately loses energy. Llobell and Scipio are fine performers, but a stunted script and a bizarre effort to not foreground any sense of chemistry leave the core storyline almost impenetrable. While there is a narrative wedge between them (Tyler is more enthusiastic about their new living situation than Maddie), there’s a glaring lack of intimacy and shared history between these two leads that’s difficult to look past—and it only becomes more apparent thanks to a soulless saccharine romance theme that somehow comes from the great Christopher Young (Hellraiser, Sinister).

Passenger makes for frustrating viewing because Øvredal excels at these quieter character-driven horror flicks: consider the atmospheric thrills of The Autopsy of Jane Doe and the compelling father-son relationship between Brian Cox and Emile Hirsch, or the creepy charm of Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark and its band of misfit teens. The core relationship is far from the only issue, as Passenger suffers from bizarre pacing, meaning that the effective set pieces and well-constructed jump scares—especially two scenes involving an outdoor projection of Roman Holiday and the clever use of van security cameras.