Passenger
Paramount Pictures | Release Date: May 22, 2026 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
52
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 14 Critic Reviews
Positive:
4
Mixed:
9
Negative:
1

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
58
AwardsWatchTrace SauveurMay 21, 2026
For viewers who like their studio frights straightforward, it’s a fun enough ride through well-traveled territory, like a highway where you already know the location of every rest stop. Read full review
40
Los Angeles TimesRobert AbeleMay 22, 2026
Per usual with movies like this, spelling out the terror (the roots are in hobo codes and religious legend) becomes, regrettably, a shock absorber, not a facilitator. But the scares were middling to begin with because Øvredal — a game but overeager trickster — telegraphs his set pieces as if he were equipped with a flare gun and detour cones. Then again, it might be an attempt to distract us from thinking too hard about all the illogic in Zachary Donohue and T.W. Burgess’ screenplay Read full review
60
Next Best PictureDan BayerMay 21, 2026
While Øvredal’s direction and the lead performances carry the film through any rough patches, it can get quite rough. Burgess and Donohue have plenty of great ideas, but don’t seem to have edited any of them, resulting in a story that can be frustrating. Read full review
50
Original-CinJim SlotekMay 21, 2026
While it’s a welcome change of pace to have the psycho in a big-screen off-road horror story not turn out to be a local yokel, Passenger doesn’t replace that trope with anything convincing, or even scary. Read full review
50
SlashfilmChris EvangelistaMay 21, 2026
while the filmmaker attempts to inject some style into Passenger, he simply can't overcome a clunky script and two highly uninteresting lead characters. But hey, if you like loud noises and ghoul faces shrieking directly into the camera, you might have some fun here. Read full review
50
The A.V. ClubJacob OllerMay 22, 2026
When in doubt, screenwriters Zachary Donohue and T.W. Burgess so awkwardly rush back to genre conventions that it feels like Passenger failing a series of trust falls before our eyes. Read full review
40
The GuardianBenjamin LeeMay 21, 2026
The only mildly jolting sequence is the cold open, setting up a previous haunting with two friends, something the marketing team was clearly aware of, having essentially shown it in full in the first teaser trailer. It’s downhill from there, as we’re stuck with an anonymously written couple we struggle to root for as they face off with an antagonist we struggle to understand. Read full review
40
The Hollywood ReporterFrank ScheckMay 23, 2026
This is the sort of generic “things that go bump in the night” chiller that seems more suited for late-night cable than theatrical release, especially in an era when superior efforts have lifted the horror genre to a higher level. Read full review
60
The New York TimesErik PiepenburgMay 21, 2026
A demon won’t take no for an answer in Andre Ovredal’s tense but confounding supernatural thriller. Read full review
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