Passenger

 Welcome to the Reel Fictious Reviews, where film reviews don’t simply take a passive back seat but grab eager readers by the imagination. Instead of reviewing a story, I bring you into a story of my own to discuss the films in review. I hope you find these entertaining and informing! To focus on just the reviews, look for the italicized text. 

Follow movie manager Brad and his string of theatre characters as each story encompasses a different version of the characters in their local theatre, reflective of the film being reviewed. Each review is a story in and of itself. So enjoy and have fun at the movies!

The Opening

Closing the doors and locking up behind me I felt a strange sense of unease this particular night. I’m not sure why but, for some reason it just felt like … like I um … huh, it’s so hard to describe, really. Have you ever had so much good luck happen to you at once, so many good things happen in a row that you just feel this unyielding sense of anxiety that something bad is about to happen? Like, the universe was just going to take it’s gaze off of the dark void of fate and stare at you instead. All of the impact from the darkness witnessed by its eyes falling upon you, reminding you that happiness comes with the price of knowing suffering as it’s ultimate cost. I’ve had a pretty good run of fortune in my life for quite some time, and in the back of my mind and heart there was always this tinge of fear lurking around the back of my eyes, keeping an eye out for when the universe decided to glance it’s dark gaze at me. Trying to figure out when to brace for that shattering break in peace. A car crash? Deaths in the family? Losing limbs … losing life?

              Well, tonight was the closest I felt that gaze upon me. With a twist of my wrist and the clicking of the lock, I felt a sharp cold shiver race down my back, despite it being a warm and humid night. For the smallest fraction of a split second I felt as though something had just been moved into motion. Whether it was basic rationality kicking in or an overwhelming fear in the embracing of that strange feeling, exploring it even . . .  I just shook my body and decided to move on with life.

              “Hey Brad, you coming”, asked Lei. Lei was a young guy, very quirky but oddly commanding when at work. Even though he was a goofy little guy, when he spoke up in the kitchen then everyone would listen. And it wasn’t because he had a booming voice or came across aggressive or friendly. There was just this inane divide you felt when he was talking casually to you, and then when he was serious about work. You could just tell that he was serious about the order or task he was giving and it would, in turn, feel more natural to comply than resist or argue. He was a good supervisor and would be a great manager one day. I loved joking that he would one day run the company . . . a joke he hated to think about any fruition of it coming true.

              “Look, you’re the boss here but if you’re going to make me stay here any longer I need to get paid for it”, he said.

              “Hey now”, I replied, turning around and whipping from the door. Walking to my car, located under the theater’s pavilion, I said to him“I’m not even supposed to be here man. I should be charging you for this drive share service I’m giving you.”

              “It’s not my fault my car died, or that you saw the late movie … or that you’re too damn nice”, he replied as he watched me walk around the front of my car and get to the driver’s side door.

              “I mean, it … it kind of IS, you’re fault . . . that you car died. It’s called a tune up … an inspection … a mechanic”.

              “I mean, it’s called “give me more money to do a tune-up”, he replied in a playfully sarcastic tone while opening his door. We both got in and closed our doors at the same time. Our banter was so natural that everything else seemed so in sync when we worked together. It was always fun working with him. He was a much younger guy but had thick skin and had no problem taking a joke as much as giving one.

              “Seriously though man, thank you for this”, said Lei, rummaging around the seat and getting comfortable.

              “Yeah well, not much you could do. With Jessica in that crash on the way in, and your car dying, it was either help out or call in Dee from home … and none of us want that”, I joked. Jessica was the other kitchen manager, besides me, and was suppose to be the closing manager tonight but got into a car wreck coming into work. Someone said it wasn’t serious so I just thought I’d reach out when I got home. Fortunately, even though Lei was a supervisor and not a manager, per se, he was already a manager in all but title and handled the night like a professional. Still, there were some things that only managers knew how to do when it came to closing, so . . . I sort of unofficially helped close. I’m sure I’d hear all about it in the next day or two from Dee, our theater’s general manager, but she’d understand. Even while spewing the obligatory “don’t do that” speech that she’d be required to give.

              As I turned the car radio on there was a sudden blasting of the song “Fire”, by The Crazy World of Arthor Brown. It blasted the opening statement to the song, which was already naturally amplified from him yelling into the mic … “I AM THE GOD OF HELL FIRE, AND I BRING YOU . . . . FIRE”, shook the radio. Springing for the radio I turned it down quickly, wondering how it had been turned up so loud in the first place.

              We both settled, breathing slightly heavy and relaxing into our seats once more. Taking a quick glance at one another we laughed a little bit before Lei turned on the A/C and began blasting it through the vents. At first it felt nice, opposed to the sticky wet air surrounding us in the car. But then the cool sensation shot down my body and landed on the ankles of my feet, like an anchor upon a frozen body of water, cracking through the ice. With that I had to jolt once more and spin the A/C knob as quickly as possible until heat blasted around my feet.

              “Um, hell no”, said Lei as he moved the dial back over to cold. Not all the way, but definitely closer to the A/C max than I had it. “It’s too hot for that man. You ok”, he asked looking over at me.

              “Yeah … yeah man, I um … I don’t know. Just feel kind of weird”, I replied. “That movie is probably still just lingering in my head is all. I saw the new horror movie, Passenger, and with Jessica having the crash on the way to work … what just happened with the radio … just feels a little freaky to me is all.”

              “Look, I know old age has it’s problems man, but try to keep your dementia in check”, Lei replied. “At least until you’ve dropped me off. After that you can go all Memento … as long as you show up for work tomorrow.

              With that I put the car in gear and headed out. The theater was brightly lit in the dark of night and was a beautiful beacon, now growing smaller and smaller with every second in the rearview mirror. We went down the tiny hill that led to the road home … well, my home at least. I’ve never been to Lei’s home. But going down the hill and turning the corner then the light all but began to disappear. I’ve seen the light of the theater fade many times before after closing, but this time, it felt sad. It was like … like saying good-bye to a loved one for the final time, only knowing it would be your final time when upon the moment of saying good-bye. But feeling weird all night, I just … I chalked it up to the “heebie-jeebies” of a horror movie being the final highlight my night while closing a large and empty building. Yet still, it isn’t actually strange that I’m feeling these things, really, but the fact that I’m having to struggle to push past the feelings to keep moving forward rather than them simply washing away.

The Review

              “Just stay on here for a few miles” said Lei. “We’ll take a right near that gas station across from the bowling alley.”

              Even though we just got on the road it felt so very draining, like we had been on the road for hours or longer. The silence in the car lasted for a few minutes, mostly due to us both settling in our seats and just coming down from the day. The darkness, it just laid out like a pale of black paint spilled around my brush of light pushing through the night. Continuous and smooth, it glided by the head light beams in every direction with the same pattern of trees and poles passing by in the fleeting light. It became as comforting as the rhythm of a melody after a few minutes, knowing the next pattern of trees would be the same as the second, over and over. Until suddenly, it wasn’t the same. A speck of red suddenly rose from the dark in the distance, only getting larger and brighter the closer we came. And it wasn’t that it was coming to us, but that we were coming to it. On the side of the road we quickly drove by the red speck, noticing it was a person in a red shirt standing on the side of the road. Not walking, not looking at us, or looking at anything really … they just stood there, still as darkness among the night.

              “Hey, should we stop to see if they’re ok”, asked Lei.

              “Naw, they looked fine”, I replied. Normally I would pull a u-turn and double-check without even thinking, but the feeling I got when he said that absolutely terrified me and I didn’t even look in my rearview mirror.

              “Really”, said Lei, settling back in his seat. “I don’t know man, she was kind of cute.”

              “Well then I’m definitely not turning back”, I said.

              “Ok . . . weird response”, Lei replied.

              “Not really”, I said, keeping my eyes straight and my hands firmly gripped on the wheel. “Think about it. What do I have to gain? For one, I have an amazingly beautiful “bride to be” so I’m covered on that front. Secondly, even if this cute girl was blind and deaf, giving you to a slight chance of hooking up, then I’d have to hear that for the rest of the drive. But ultimately there’s reason three . . .  we both know any cute girl in the car with us is automatically going to be drawn to me, so … I refer you to my first point.”

              “Wow . . . big talk for a guy driving a soccer mom car. And who are you criticizing about their car upkeep”, said Lei. “I saw like three huge gashes back on the side of your car man. Looks like you either hit something or something hit you.”

              “What”, I said in a surprised voice. I had the weirdest reaction by looking in the rearview mirror knowing I couldn’t see anything on the outside of the car, but him saying that got me to look anyway. By doing so I was greeted by a dark silhouette of a figure perched in the center of the backseat. Its frame could only be seen as it was actually darker than the dark of the night surrounding it, almost making the shadowed backseat bright by comparison. Without thinking I immediately swung my body around and threw my right arm in the back, toward the backseat, ready to grab anyone or anything that was waiting back there. I didn’t notice the car jerking back and fourth around the road until Lei’s hands fumbled upon my own and he took control of the wheel.

              “Brad, what the hell man”, screamed Lei. “This isn’t funny dude, what are you doing?”

              Realizing the danger I put us both in I spun back around just as quick, sitting in my seat and breathing heavy. “I’m sorry … I’m sorry man, I … I am so … holy crap that scared me.”

              “What? What scared you dude”, screamed Lei.

              “I don’t know man, I . . . I thought I just . . . wow. My um … my last time watching a horror movie late at night, I guess.” I said this with the intent to lighten the mood but there weren’t enough candles in the world to do that this night.

              “Yeah, no shit, dude”, said Lei, breathing heavy and picking his phone off the floor after dropping it. “I need to make sure my roommate is still awake and has my place unlocked. I’d rather not drive back to your place after this”.

              “Like I’d uh … like I’d invite you”, I said, breathing steadily again. Staring out the window I started thinking of something to say to get our minds off of what just happened. All of the sudden, as I’m staring out the window, my eyes drift with surreal fascination and horror as I see a familiar red speck peering into the light many yards ahead. Getting closer, and closer, I see the body of Jessica standing on the side of the road in her red theater shirt. She was just standing there, facing the road with her arms stretched out and palms facing the road. Her mouth was seemingly pried open, hanging open in mid-air, and her eyes rolled to the back of her head. As I watched her body pass by the car, my eyes left the road once more and followed alongside, leading toward the back and disappearing into the dark.

              “Dude, eyes on the road”, screamed Lei once more. “Seriously man, I don’t know what’s going on with you but you do that one more time and I’m getting out.”

              “Did you see her?”

              “See who”, replied Lei, looking back at his phone.

              “The girl, man. The … the one in the red. We just passed her.”

              “Yeah, the one from a few minutes ago. What about her?”

              “No . . . I mean, yeah, that one. But what I’m saying is we just passed her again.”

              “What”, he said, looking up from his phone for a second, focusing on the road in front. “Where man”, he charged, only to immediately look back at his phone. “What are you even talking about.”

              There was no reason to even try and explain it to him. I didn’t even fully know what I saw myself. I mean, was it the same girl . . . was it Jessica . . .  was the first figure even a girl, or was it a guy . . .  or, is it really crazy to think that two people could be walking outside at night AND both be wearing a red shirt? “No . . . no, its . . . it’s not that crazy of a coincidence. Out of the eight billion people in the world, it isn’t that crazy to think that two happen to be on the same road wearing the same colored shirt. Yeah . . . yeah I’m sure it’s just coincidence.”

             I rolled down my window and decided to let the breeze slap my eyes awake, hopefully clear my head a bit. I needed to shake this feeling I haven’t been able to shake since the theatre. My arm just dangling out in the wind, my hand sliding against the cool smooth metal of the car door. Suddenly, a cold moist hand began gripping my forearm with large fingers tightly wrapped around my skin. It had a cold sensation just the underside of burning. In an instance the sensation pulled me down as it tugged at me with a strong and unrelenting force, then let go just as fast. Knee-jerk reaction, I threw my body to the right trying to pull away from the frightening force pulling at me. As it immediately released the second after it pulled at me, I had already gone and thrust my body toward the passenger seat. Unfortunately, my control of the car went with it.

              “Are you crazy man, what in the hell is going on right now”, screamed Lei as he shoved me as hard as he could back to my seat. “I mean seriously, what is going on with you? Are you trying to kill yourself or something.”

              “No . . . No dude I just . . . something is happening here. I swear I’m seeing things, feeling things . . . you haven’t noticed anything strange so far”, I asked.

              “Besides you trying to kill us, no . . . no nothing strange”, said Lei, putting his phone away for good at this point. “But um, have you . . . have you like, taken a different way to my place or something? Cause, yeah . . . it shouldn’t be taking this long to get to the turn.”

              “Straight shot man, it’s been a straight shot the whole time. And I’m going the speed limit. I’m telling you, something weird is happening right now.”

              “Ok, look, you’ve been weird since we left the theater and, to be honest, you were acting kind of weird while we were closing. So, I don’t know, tell me about the movie you saw. This “Passenger” movie. If it’ll get your mind off things right now then go ahead and give me a little review of it.”

              “Well, it was pretty good. I wouldn’t say it was special or unique or anything, but it was good”.

              “Not like Obsessed or Hokum?”

              “No, no not even close man. I mean, honestly this movie was like if you took an episode from the show Supernatural and made it into a full-length feature film. Basically, if you’ve seen one demonic-themed supernatural thriller then you’ve seen them all. But there were some unique aspects in the film though”.

              “Like what”, asked Lei.

              “For one, it’s centered around a “van life” situation. That’s unique because, to my knowledge, there isn’t a mainstream horror film that has really taken that route yet. There’s been horror films with homes, boats, trains, and planes, but this is the first movie I know about that is set in a van . . . and not one “down by the river.”

              “Nice”, Lei said with a small chuckle. He was right, this was calming me down, so I continued.

              “The story was pretty basic itself but the aspects surrounding the story are fun and interesting. Not just the concept of living a haunted “van life”, especially since van life is becoming more and more popular, but also due to the use of the hobo code”.

              “Hobo code? What the hell is that”, asked Lei.

              “Wow, read a book, dude. The hobo code was a series of symbols that transients developed in the early 1900s to communicate to each other. Stuff about safety and danger and anything in between. And that concept, at it’s bare roots, its somewhat unnerving in and of itself. The thought that people lurking in the dark are communicating with each other around us without us being aware of it . . . it’s at the very least, creepy. So, adding that into the story was a great layer of storytelling in my opinion. But besides that, it’s a pretty standard horror story. A couple are in love, stumble upon darkness, the darkness challenges them, they learn about it and try to defeat it. There are some decent jump scares and some pretty standard suspense setups throughout, but nothing that makes the horror standout like the previous horror movies of the year so far.”

              “Ok, sounds like you didn’t love it, but didn’t hate it”, replied Lei, unaware of the slightest movement of his seat belt moving tighter across his chest. “So, is there anything you didn’t like about it?”

             “Yeah, the boogeyman of the movie itself. While the concept of the creature is fun to play with in the lens of horror … which, I’ll let you discover what or who the creature is for yourself … the visual of the creature doesn’t quite measure up to the level of cinematic horror for my standards. It looked like something that the weak link of a daytime TV show writer would come up with and consider “good horror”. But the well executed jump scares helped make up for that some. Other than that there are some blaring plot holes in the story towards the end but for the most part it was a fun ride”.

The Closing

              “Thanks man, that um . . . that actually did help”, I said to Lei, more relaxed than I had been since that afternoon.

              “Anytime man . . . just don’t ever offer me a ride again. Ever”, said Lei with a laugh to follow.

              “My pleasure!”

              Suddenly Lei’s belt buckle pressed tight against his chest. Out of instinct he threw his arms out in every direction and ended up grabbing my arm while screaming out in a combination of pain and horror. The harsh fibers of the belt strap dug deep into his neck and left a burning sensation across his neck.

              “What the hell are you doing”, screamed Lei, frantically flailing his arms around searching for something to grab on to.

              “I’m not … I’m not doing anything man. Look, both hands are on the wheel.”

              “Then, who the … hell … is … pulling my strap?”

              I took a quick glance back and saw nothing but bare black piled in the back seat shadowed by the passing light spilling in the windows from the street lamps passing by. But a glint of grey struck my eye as I saw something small moving near the ground of the back seat. Half hidden, and half seen, I saw to my horror a tiny grey being with a balding head and long string black hair, like the head of a demented doll ripped apart by hungry jaws of a wild animal. The skin glinted in the tiny light from the street lamps, like a ripe and rotting corpse decaying on death’s door. The eye I could see stared at me. Though I couldn’t see its features in the shadow of the night I could tell it was staring up at me with dead lifeless eyes.

              “Lei, there’s someone back there man . . . there’s someone back there” I yelled. The car began the jump and I could feel the right side of the car starting to lose control. Instincts kicked in and I whipped my head back around to find the car drifting half-way off the road. I quickly whipped the wheel back to the left, fighting to get the car back on pavement.

              Suddenly a force gripped around the flailing ankles of Lei and grounded them to the floor of the front seat. Then, the very next second, something grabbed hold of Lei’s wrists and pulled his grip away from off the strap across his chest. The force easily ripped away his grip and pulled his arms around both sides of the seat. This caused his whole body to press hard against the back of the seat itself. His feet started to drag beneath the seat as with his ankles curled inward and the soles of his feet faced one another, painfully being pulled beneath the seat. Lei screamed in horror and pain while the limbs of his body were slowly being wrenched around the seat.

              While I heard the screams, knowing full well the nightmare creature from behind his seat was what was pulling him, I stared at the road focusing on the dark to clear my mind and think quickly on what to do to help my friend. There was a difference I saw outside this time though. While it was still dark out, the dark wasn’t nearly as pitch as it had been before. I could see the light pollution, the beautiful light pollution of the distant shopping center. A gentle mist sprayed upon the windshield as the scenery from the side of the road had suddenly, and drastically, changed from trees to apartment buildings. Most importantly, no more red specks. No Jessica in the distance or passing by. And then it hit me. “That thing was controlling the outside, but now that it’s inside, maybe the outside is free . . . free for me.”

              Finally I saw the turn up ahead. The intersection that we had been waiting for. A five mile trip that felt like an hour, but there it was. To take a right was to get Lei to his house, but to the left . . .

              I anchored my foot down upon the gas and gripped the wheel tighter and tighter, lowering my head and honing my gaze onto the road. “Brad, help me man, help me”, screamed Lei.

              “Hang on man, hang on. We’re almost safe”, I screamed as we entered the intersection. Though instead of going right, I bolted left and jumped the curve, blazing across the cool evening grass and bumping up and down while I barreled through the parking lot. After a few more seconds I pressed both feet down as hard as I could upon the gas pedal, trying to break through the floorboard if I could and squeeze every bit of speed I could out of this engine so as to ram through the church building in front of us.

              Exploding cement and wood launched in every direction turning the wall into a veritable bomb, and my car the fuse. My car rammed through the structure and destroyed pew after pew, wall after wall, coming to rest near the front altar. Fortunately no one was home, but for the Lord of course, and he wouldn’t be taken out by a car. Jarring from the collision we both sat in our seats and slowly shook the smash out of our bodies, coming back to life and falling back into our seats with a fresh sense of ease.

              “What … what just happened”, asked Lei. He started to move his arms and legs, bringing them back from around the seat where they could relax once more.

              “We um . . . we . . . we had a passenger”, I said with a snicker.

              “Oh . . . gotcha”, replied Lei. “So, yeah man … I’m never asking you for a ride again”.