A remote road, an unexpected passenger and two young women facing a situation that quickly becomes threatening.
Bad Influence begins with a simple idea that has powered countless thrillers: what happens when someone you trust enough to let into your car turns out to be dangerous?
The upcoming horror film has now added several recognizable performers to its ensemble.
On October 29, Deadline reported that John Cho, Ethan Suplee, Danny Jolles and Arnas Fedaravičius had joined the cast.
They appear alongside Madeleine McGraw, Xochitl Gomez and Jack Champion, whose participation was announced earlier in October.
The latest report also confirmed that filming had recently wrapped.
That means Bad Influence has progressed beyond casting and principal photography, although substantial work may still remain before it is ready for audiences.
No official release date or final distribution agreement has been announced.
John Cho brings experience in suspense and horror
John Cho is arguably the most recognizable name in the latest casting announcement.
The actor has built a varied career across comedy, science fiction, drama and suspense.
He became widely known through the Harold & Kumar comedy films before portraying Hikaru Sulu in the Star Trek reboot movies.
But some of his most distinctive recent performances have taken place in thrillers.
In Searching, released in 2018, Cho played a father investigating his daughter's disappearance through digital information.
The film used computer screens and electronic communications to create an unusual style of suspense.
Cho's performance relied heavily on subtle changes in expression as his character uncovered increasingly disturbing details.
He later appeared in The Grudge and the technological thriller Afraid.
Those roles demonstrate his experience portraying characters confronted by threats in apparently familiar environments.
Bad Influence may offer another opportunity to explore that kind of tension.
However, the nature of his new role remains undisclosed in the reporting available for verification.
There is no confirmed basis for identifying him as a detective, a parent or an antagonist.
His participation is the established development. His character's identity is not.
Ethan Suplee, Danny Jolles and Arnas Fedaravičius also join
The expanded ensemble includes actors with very different professional backgrounds.
Ethan Suplee has appeared in films including American History X, Remember the Titans and The Wolf of Wall Street.
He is also widely associated with the television comedy My Name Is Earl.
His work has covered dramatic, comedic and more confrontational characters.
Danny Jolles brings a background in comedy and performance.
His credits include Crazy Ex-Girlfriend and other American television and comedy projects.
Arnas Fedaravičius is particularly known for portraying Sihtric in The Last Kingdom.
The Lithuanian actor has also appeared in other international television productions.
Their casting broadens the film's ensemble beyond its three young leads.
It does not reveal how the additional characters fit into the story.
The new performers could become involved in the road trip or appear elsewhere in the narrative.
Neither possibility has been sufficiently established to present it as a confirmed plot detail.
The film's full supporting-character descriptions remain unavailable.
Two friends and a mysterious hitchhiker
The announced synopsis follows two young women returning home during spring break.
Isabelle is played by Madeleine McGraw, while Xochitl Gomez portrays her friend Kira.
Their journey changes when they pick up a mysterious hitchhiker named Liam.
The stranger is described as someone who is not what he initially appears to be.
Jack Champion was announced as one of the three principal performers when the project was first revealed.
Several genre publications have associated Champion with the hitchhiker, although not every account of the initial casting announcement explicitly identified that role.
What is clear is that the encounter creates the central danger of the story.
The vehicle becomes a potentially threatening environment because the women have voluntarily allowed an unknown person into their shared space.
That situation provides an effective foundation for suspense.
The road suggests freedom and movement, but the confined interior of a car can make an unwanted passenger difficult to escape.
Small decisions may carry enormous consequences.
The filmmakers have not disclosed what makes Liam dangerous.
Whether he conceals a criminal identity, a supernatural secret or something entirely different remains unknown.
The film's promotional premise deliberately preserves that mystery.
The project has been compared to Thelma & Louise
One of the more intriguing aspects of Bad Influence is the way its producers have described the story.
The film has been positioned as a contemporary horror variation on Thelma & Louise, driven by female anger.
Ridley Scott's 1991 film used a road journey to explore friendship, freedom and the pressure placed on two women by a hostile world.
The comparison does not mean Bad Influence will reproduce that film's plot.
Instead, it identifies a narrative structure centered on two women whose relationship changes under extreme circumstances.
The added horror element transforms the road into a place of immediate physical danger.
The emphasis on female anger suggests that Isabelle and Kira may be more than passive victims.
Their responses to the threat could be as important as the mysterious stranger himself.
That is an announced creative intention, however, rather than a confirmed description of individual scenes.
The public has not yet seen enough of the film to evaluate how effectively that approach has been developed.
The relationship between Isabelle and Kira remains the most important element of the premise.
Madeleine McGraw continues building a horror career
Madeleine McGraw has become a recognizable young performer in modern horror.
She played Gwen Blake in The Black Phone, directed by Scott Derrickson.
Gwen was memorable for her determination, strong personality and refusal to remain passive in a frightening situation.
McGraw reprised the role in Black Phone 2, released in 2025.
That return gave her another opportunity to develop a character whose emotional strength was important to the story.
Bad Influence introduces her as Isabelle, one of two friends encountering danger on the road.
The setting differs from the supernatural experiences of The Black Phone.
Instead, the premise revolves around travel, trust and a mysterious stranger.
It is tempting to draw similarities between Isabelle and Gwen, but the new character's personality has not yet been described in sufficient detail.
The roles should not be treated as interchangeable.
McGraw's established genre experience nevertheless makes her a notable choice for a thriller driven by the experiences of young women.
Xochitl Gomez moves further beyond Marvel
Xochitl Gomez stars opposite McGraw as Kira.
She became internationally known for playing America Chavez in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.
Her Marvel character could travel between universes, placing Gomez within a visually elaborate superhero film.
Bad Influence offers a substantially different premise.
Its story begins with two friends sharing a car rather than extraordinary powers or supernatural dimensions.
Any suspense will have to emerge from the characters, their decisions and the danger associated with their passenger.
Gomez has also explored horror through the project Hive.
Her developing career therefore includes both large-scale fantasy productions and more intimate genre stories.
The central relationship with McGraw is especially important because friendship forms part of the film's announced identity.
The pair must make their connection convincing before the danger can meaningfully challenge it.
Their characters' shared history and individual personalities remain largely undisclosed.
Jack Champion returns to horror after Scream VI
Jack Champion brings further genre experience to the film.
He played Ethan Landry in Scream VI, the 2023 slasher sequel set primarily in New York.
The movie relied heavily on suspicion and questions about which characters could be trusted.
Champion is also known for playing Spider in James Cameron's Avatar films.
His experience therefore extends from large-scale visual-effects productions to more immediate horror narratives.
Bad Influence appears closer to the latter tradition.
The announced story relies on uncertainty about a stranger entering an established friendship.
If the screenplay sustains that ambiguity, the relationship between the three principal characters could provide much of the film's suspense.
However, the nature of Liam's deception has not been revealed.
There is no reliable basis for describing specific confrontations or the eventual outcome of the journey.
Jason Perlman directs Brandon Cohen's screenplay
Jason Perlman is directing Bad Influence from a screenplay written by Brandon Cohen.
The central idea uses a familiar horror formula without requiring an elaborate fictional mythology.
A routine journey becomes threatening because of a single decision.
Road movies often use unfamiliar locations and unexpected encounters to examine how characters respond to change.
Horror transforms those opportunities into dangers.
In this case, allowing a stranger into the car creates the principal disruption.
The concept could support a particularly concentrated thriller, depending on how the screenplay handles tension and character relationships.
It is not yet known how much of the film takes place inside the vehicle.
Nor has the production released enough information to establish all the locations visited by the protagonists.
Describing the movie as an entirely enclosed thriller would therefore go beyond the confirmed details.
The more accurate description is a young-adult road-trip horror film built around a dangerous encounter.
The producers have experience in mainstream comedy
Bad Influence is produced by Debbie Liebling, Joel David Moore and Zachary Burgess.
Liebling and Moore previously collaborated on Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story and Grandma's Boy.
Moore also has an extensive acting career, including the role of Norm Spellman in the Avatar films.
He appeared in the horror film Hatchet as well.
The producing team therefore brings experience across comedy, horror and mainstream genre entertainment.
The announced executive producers include Steven Silverstein, Cathy Raduns, Raymond Merrill, Carmelo Chimera, Syed Ali Saeed, Denis Schoenhofer, Natalie Kline and Jarod Einsohn.
Capture is handling sales for the film.
That role should not be mistaken for confirmation of a final theatrical distributor.
A sales company may represent a completed or developing film to potential buyers in different markets.
As of the latest announcement, the project's commercial release arrangements remain unconfirmed.
Filming has wrapped, but the movie is not finished
One of the most consequential details in the October 29 announcement is the completion of principal photography.
Deadline reports that the film has recently wrapped shooting.
This establishes a meaningful production milestone.
The cast and crew have completed the principal filming phase, allowing the project to move further into post-production.
Editing will determine the final structure and pacing of the story.
Sound design and mixing will be important to establishing suspense, particularly if the film relies on the threatening presence of a stranger.
Color grading and any necessary visual-effects work must also be completed.
The scale and timetable of those remaining tasks have not been publicly detailed.
A production wrap therefore does not mean the finished movie is ready for release.
Further business arrangements may also be necessary before an opening date can be established.
The film has not released its own promotional footage
At this stage, Bad Influence has not been accompanied by a widely released official trailer.
The information available about the project comes primarily from casting reports and its announced premise.
That makes it impossible to assess the finished visual style.
Perlman could emphasize grounded tension, more graphic horror or a combination of different genre approaches.
None of those possibilities has been sufficiently demonstrated through completed footage.
The film's positioning suggests a road-trip thriller with strong female protagonists, but the execution remains unknown.
Photographs accompanying early coverage show performers in earlier productions.
Images of Gomez in Doctor Strange, McGraw in Black Phone 2 or Champion in Scream VI should not be mistaken for stills from Bad Influence.
Official promotional material will eventually provide a clearer picture of the new characters and their surroundings.
What is confirmed about Bad Influence?
The October 29 report establishes two significant developments.
John Cho, Ethan Suplee, Danny Jolles and Arnas Fedaravičius have joined the ensemble.
And principal photography has recently been completed.
The story centers on Isabelle and Kira, played by Madeleine McGraw and Xochitl Gomez, whose journey home becomes dangerous after they encounter a mysterious hitchhiker.
Jack Champion is also part of the leading cast.
Jason Perlman directs Brandon Cohen's screenplay, with Debbie Liebling, Joel David Moore and Zachary Burgess producing.
The film has been positioned as a horror-driven variation on the female friendship road movie.
What remains unknown is equally important.
The supporting characters have not been fully described, there is no confirmed release date and no final distributor has been announced.
The premise has potential because its danger emerges from an ordinary decision rather than an elaborate fantasy.
Whether the story delivers on its promise of female anger and solidarity will depend on how the finished film portrays Isabelle and Kira.
For now, Bad Influence has completed filming and assembled a recognizable genre ensemble. The next meaningful development will be the first opportunity to see what those actors and filmmakers have created.
