During one of his interviews, Jordan Peele briefly spoke about the aches of writing a horror film. He finds it particularly difficult to convince the audience of his characters willingly putting themselves in dangerous situations – especially the kind that you see in horror films. Oftentimes, they do not use their common sense as they act in a scary situation. After all, as humans, it’s our natural tendency to avoid trouble and protect ourselves. So, it certainly takes genuine persuasion skills to convince the audience of a character’s audience. When it comes to ‘The Man in the White Van’, similar questions take centre stage.

Set in a small town in 1970s Florida, the film follows a family governed by traditional American values of sophistication. In this case, the family patriarch, William (Sean Astin), is not an authoritarian brute. However, as the ‘man in the house’, he definitely makes most of the decisions for others.