Getting into a rideshare is a gamble. To begin with, you are getting into a car with a complete stranger and then spending an extended amount of time with this stranger in an enclosed space that isn’t easy to exit. It’s a situation ripe for the horror movie treatment. Over the past several years, as Uber, Lyft, and other rideshare companies have taken off, we have seen several movies utilize the scenario, namely “Spree” (2021) and “Ride” (2018). “The Stranger” is the latest rideshare horror movie, directed by Veena Stud, and recut from a Quibi TV show into a feature film. The director describes it as “a story about justifiable female rage and vengeance.”
“The Stranger” stars scream queen Maika Monroe (“It Follows”) as Clare, a recent transplant to the Los Angeles Valley scraping by as a rideshare driver. One night, she picks Carl (Dane Dehaan, “Oppenheimer”) up at a Hollywood Hills Mansion. At first, he appears to be pleasant, but that facade is shattered when he reveals himself to be a violent, misogynistic murderer. Clare barely escapes from the car after a purposeful accident, but Carl isn’t letting her escape that easily. Avan Jogia co-stars as a potential ally of Clare’s.
Here’s the official synopsis:
Starring breakout scream queen Maika Monroe, Dane Dehaan, and Avan Jogia, “The Stranger” takes you on an edge-of-your-seat ride as rideshare driver Clare (Monroe) goes through a twelve-hour fight for survival when she picks up Carl (DeHaan), a passenger who becomes her worst nightmare. The thriller takes you on an escalating journey that underscores the power of justified female rage and vengeance.
“The Stranger” will premiere on Hulu on April 15th. Watch the first trailer below.