Ride or die.
The Passenger is a 2023 horror/thriller directed by Carter Smith (The Ruins) about a shy fast-food employee, Randolph Bradley (Johnny Berchtold), who is forced to face his fears when his co-worker, Benson (Kyle Gallner), snaps and goes on a violent killing spree.
It was produced by Jason Blum through Blumhouse Productions, and it dropped on MGM+ in August 2023.
No relation to the 1970s film, or Cormac McCarthy's 2022 novel.
Tropes
- Accidental Misnaming: To emphasise how he's Beneath Notice, the manager gets Randy's (Randolph's) name wrong, thinking that Bradley is his first name. This is because it says so on his name tag and he never corrected it.
- Asshole Victim: Chris is a total prick, tormenting Randy constantly. He's also the first one to be killed.
- Blatant Lies: Benson tells Mrs. Beard he has nothing to do with the brutal homicide of Mr. Sheppard and scratches his chin in mock speculation... while his knuckles are still bloody and split from the incident. The camera even lingers on his hands, and unsurprisingly she doesn't buy it.
- Black Comedy: A fair amount, mostly courtesy of Benson.Benson: Help me clean this up. (Beat.) Bradley, don't make me do some count to ten bullshit. (Beat, Benson starts counting on his fingers.)
- Book Ends: The first and last place Benson takes Randy after the burger massacre is the diner.
- Burger Fool: Both Benson and Randolph have depressed, unhappy lives and work together in a fast-food restaurant. The other characters who work there are shown to be lazy and/or immature.
- Chekhov's Gunman: Marsha, the waitress at the diner where Benson and Randy stop to eat. When they first meet, Benson uses her as an example of how small-town life is meaningless. When they revisit the diner at the end of the movie, she's still there, and confronts him furious with the implication that the sacrifices she's made over her life meant nothing - so Benson shoots her in the leg, setting off the climax.
- Going Postal: Benson snaps and kills three of his co-workers at his workplace.
- My Greatest Failure: Played with. Randy's great trauma, the thing that leads him to be so guilt-ridden and self-defeating, is accidentally taking out his second-grade teacher's eye with a catapulted eraser - but everyone else either thinks it's hilarious or has already moved on, including Mrs. Beard, who lost the eye.
- No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Mr. Sheppard is punched eighteen times, rammed into a car door, and pistol whipped in a parking lot by Benson. The entire thing is shown in grisly detail.
- Noodle Incident: Whatever Mr. Sheppard did to deserve Benson beating him to death with his bare hands the instant they're alone together isn't clear, but it's implied it's related to Benson's childhood. It may be an Implied Rape situation, but he refuses to discuss it.Randy: That- that guy...Benson: You bring him up again, and I'll kill you.
- Oh, Crap!: The only moment in the movie Benson shows fear is when he hears police sirens in the distance at the diner and realizes he's going to be dead within the next ten minutes.Benson: (Subdued) Oh, shit. Fuck. Okay. What the- who called them? Who called them?
- Road Trip Plot: Of a dark variety, after one character (Benson) has gone on a killing spree. The eponymous "passenger" is Randy, coerced along into the car under implied threat of violence.
- Say My Name: Randy briefly considers helping out Mr. Sheppard post-beating when the latter reaches out to him, but he's cut off by Benson shrieking his name in a clear threat to get back in the car or else.
- Shout-Out:
- Benson's outfit, after he changes out of his bloodstained burger uniform, has a t-shirt of Frank.
- When Benson and Randy meet Marsha, Benson says "Marsha, Marsha, Marsha."
- Sleeves Are for Wimps: In the diner, Randy wears a sleeved shirt under a coat, while the tough and aggressive Benson wears a sleeveless tank.
- Sole Survivor: Randy is the only employee that Benson spares.
- Suicide by Cop: Implied at the end of the movie. Benson draws a gun on the police at the diner but does not shoot, and in return receives three bullets. Tellingly, after almost an entire movie demonstrating that this is Benson's first day of true freedom from the mediocrity of small-town life, his last words are that he was never in charge.
- Two First Names: Inverted. Randy's full name is Randolph Bradley. Marsha lampshades that he has "two last names, that's really special."
- Violence Is Disturbing: Any act of violence committed by Benson is sudden, bloody, and very brutal. The massacre of his coworkers at the beginning of the movie is especially horrifying because of how unfortunately common they can be in Real Life, and the aforementioned No-Holds-Barred Beatdown is even more graphic.
