Zachary Donohue has been making scary movies for more than 30 years, which is doubly impressive given that he’s just about to turn 40. From the time he was in third grade growing up in Shoreham and upstate New York, the Vermont native shot short horror films with his dad on an old Super 8 camera. He followed that early love of moviemaking to film school at New York University, then set his sights on Hollywood, where he’s become an up-and-coming voice in horror cinema. His 2013 debut, The Den, was a sleeper indie-horror hit, and he’s collaborated with the likes of fright masters Kevin Williamson (Scream), James Wan (The Conjuring) and Nick Antosca (Antlers).
This Friday, May 22, Donohue’s latest film, Passenger, starring Melissa Leo and directed by André Øvredal (Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, The Last Voyage of the Demeter), opens in theaters nationwide. In Vermont, it’s showing at Majestic 10 in Williston and Essex Cinemas. Donohue cowrote the movie with British horror writer T.W. Burgess after the two discovered a mutual interest in freaky road-trip movies.
Passenger centers on a young couple (played by Jacob Scipio and Lou Llobell) touring the country in a camper van. After witnessing a fatal accident on a lonely stretch of highway, they’re pursued by an unrelenting, inescapable entity. “It’s a haunted house movie on wheels,” Donohue said.
The screenwriter spoke with Seven Days about his new film and why horror movies are having a moment.
You’re a lifelong horror fan. What speaks to you about scary stories?
It’s comfort food in many ways. There’s so many different types of horror movies for the different moods you’re in. If I’m feeling like I want to be cheered up, I’ll pull for, like, Friday the 13th, just a fun slasher. If I’m in more of a thoughtful, moody space and it’s rainy outside, I’ll go for The Shining or Hereditary, Barbarian — something that just makes me feel kind of creepy. But personally, I write horror because I have a lot of anxieties about different things.
Do you think that’s why horror is in a new golden age? We’re all just really anxious?
I think it’s a little bit that the times we’re living in are uncertain and scary. For a lot of people, it’s fun to go and see escapist horror movies. At least, that’s the goal with Passenger. This is the kind of movie that should be seen in a theater, because it’s just fun to see scary movies with other people.
I’m often struck by the range of horror being produced now, from really dark, heady stuff to something like “Widow’s Bay” on Apple TV that’s both scary and funny. Where does Passenger fit in?
You know, it’s funny. There’s a lot of different subgenres of horror. Like, Evil Dead, right? It’s got a lot of humor in it. And I will say, Passenger is scary, but it does have almost Spielbergian moments of levity. It’s not just dark.
This interview was edited for clarity and length.
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