Long Island, NY, has a rich collection of folklore and urban legends that have been passed down over the years. Mount Misery Road is the location where some have reported seeing a ghostly lady in white, while Sweet Hollow Road is known for spectral children who may have been victims of a bus crash and are said to push cars that are placed in neutral under the overpass.

Writer/director Alex Cherney (The Have Not, Dog Fugitive), whose work encompasses multiple genres and is often inspired by real-life people and events, draws from Long Island’s colorful paranormal history for his enigmatic and creepy YA horror film The Mid-Night Driver.

In 1992, Long Island, teenage friends June (Fran Mae), El (Izzy Marinucci), and Claire (Devan Delugo) enjoy an evening of hanging out and playing video games, until they get bored and decide to look for something more exciting to do. June tells her friends a story she heard about a boy who played a game to summon a cab driver, called the Mid-Night Driver, and the boy was never seen again. The girls are intrigued.

June carefully writes down detailed instructions for a ritual, which must be performed after 3 am. Later that night, the girls sit around the telephone in the dark, count aloud, dial a series of numbers on the phone, tie a black rope to the phone’s receiver, then say, “Hello, I need a ride,” and hang up and wait for the driver to appear. In addition to performing the complex ritual, there are rules that must be followed. The most important rule is that you’re not allowed to ask the driver any questions. When nothing happens, the girls are happily relieved and maybe a little disappointed.

After all, it’s just a game.

When Claire is unable to stop thinking about the Mid-Night Driver game, she decides to perform the ritual alone one night while her parents are away. This time, a driver silently pulls up in front of her house. He has long, stringy hair, a scar on his face, and ragged, dirty fingernails. Despite his appearance, Claire gets into the car. They drive in silence until Claire tries to strike up a conversation. The strange man doesn’t answer or look at her; his peculiar, intense eyes stay focused on the road ahead.

Composer sous chef’s (Santamaria, Pick Me Up!) darksynth score, reminiscent of Stranger Things and Donnie Darko, sublimely accentuates The Mid-Night Driver’s frequent nighttime scenes and sense of mystery and the unknown, as Claire wonders if she will ever make it back home. Claire is visibly shaken riding in the car with the unknown man, but Devan Delugo (Your Vote Matters) makes her charmingly relatable and superbly conveys Claire’s excited inquisitiveness about where her journey will end. Claire isn’t just curious; she needs something to believe in.

While Cherney impeccably constructs an atmosphere of overwhelming dread and wonder throughout the film, The Mid-Night Driver features a pleasant array of early nineties nostalgia that movie fans of a certain age will appreciate. With no gore or graphic imagery, but plenty of supernatural scares, The Mid-Night Driver is a family-friendly YA horror tale. It’s good to be curious. Just remember, if you summon the Mid-Night driver late one night, you must follow the rules.

The Mid-Night Driver premiered at Chattanooga Film Festival 2026; release info TBA.