Driven

By: Arlene Allen

I’m not sure what to make of this “horror thriller” film by Glenn Payne. I’m pretty hardcore when it comes to my horror movies; sometimes subtlety is lost on me. I realize I’m not always a target audience and that may be a problem I had here. Regardless, I can’t in good conscience say Driven is a horror movie because I’m not sure the supernatural elements are realistic and, even if they were, the film falls flat and leaves viewers lost in a screwball comedy.

This is the story of Emerson Graham (Casey Dillard), a down on her luck stand-up comedian doing a gig as a rideshare driver. I’m sure, for some, the horror starts and stops right there – people are pretty awful all on their own without the supernatural kicking in. I thought after seeing Rutger Hauer in “Hitcher” in 1986 picking up random strangers was something we all agreed upon was just a really, really bad idea. Unfortunately, Emerson gets herself some doozies before Roger (Richard Speight Jr) gets in her backseat.

You see, Roger’s grandfather made a deal with some demons (“for lack of a better word”) to allow them to take over humans in exchange for the usual fortune and fame. Now it’s up to him (and now Emerson) to stop them, but the problem is they look like regular humans and no one believes him anyway. It turns out that it’s true (maybe) and now Emerson has even more problems than she had before.

Most of the movie takes place in her car and feels like a bad episode of “Taxicab Confessions,” especially when Emerson’s complicated love life comes into play. It takes certain skill to make a thriller that is ninety percent two people talking and only ten percent remotely interesting. The problem with Roger is that Emerson has already picked up so many nutjobs that he just seems to be another one, with just a slightly better story. I’m not even convinced the horror aspects were indeed real as he seems like an incel who has spent too much time in a basement reading Lovecraft.

Either way, he’s the last person to be giving out romantic advice and we really aren’t sure why we even care. I think it’s supposed to be a big shocking reveal that Emerson’s lover is a woman, but this is 2020 and it would have been way cooler if her lover was one of the demons. We really don’t even care about her comedy routine either. She is no Mrs. Maisel and just generally unfunny. I felt sorry for these two and not in the good way you’re supposed to care about your potential horror movie victims. They don’t even deserve it (assuming the supernatural parts are genuine) so there’s none of the catharsis when someone “gets what they deserve.”

Believe it or not I watched this movie three times (it’s only ninety minutes) to make sure I wasn’t missing something, but if I missed it I missed it by a mile. It was so slow I felt I could have taken a nap, hit the snooze once or twice and have been none the wiser. There are no jump scares, no intestines and since the demons just look like regular people there’s no body horror either. The actors sure try hard enough, but it is Payne’s direction that confuses me. It’s not for gorehounds and teenagers will laugh for all of the wrong reasons.

As I said earlier, I’m just not sure what Payne was going for or who his target audience is supposed to be for Driven. I do know it certainly wasn’t me. Give this girl a chainsaw and a maniac any day, please and thank you. This might be a good choice for the squeamish, but hardcore horror fans are likely to be confused. Speight and Dillard do an adequate enough job within the limited situation, but not much beyond that. I don’t take any pleasure in disliking a film, but Driven just left me standing cold and lonely on the curbside.