Logline

When the restless spirits of five people who died during a horrid bus crash take out their anger on unsuspecting passengers, a detective must solve the mystery in time to save his kids when they unknowingly get on the phantom bus.

Sam has a miserable life. His wife cheats on him, people make fun of him for his weight, and he hates his bus driver job. One day, Satan appears to him and pushes Sam to kill his wife so he can take her soul. Sam thinks he can do so until he actually tries. After backing out, he sinks further into depression and does something unthinkable – crashes his bus full of passengers on purpose, killing all four on board.

Nick is a prominent detective married to his job. That leaves his wife Janice starved for attention. The two often bicker in front of their kids, 10-year-old Jake and 15-year-old Kaitlin. The siblings avoid their parents to stay away from the awkward situation. Nick loves his family but when duty calls, it always comes first.

Bus 39 begins to appear on its route occasionally. It materializes from thin air to pick up an unsuspecting passenger. Once on board, the now demon-like passengers brutally murder the new arrival and throw their body off of the vehicle. Nick is one of the detectives who investigates. He finds himself puzzled with the accounts of the wrecked bus picking up the deceased before they die.

His investigation takes him to Sam’s wife, Gloria. To Nick’s surprise, Gloria appears to have no feelings for her husband. She even seems gleeful that he’s dead. Then Nick investigates the bus terminal where Sam worked. Nothing out of the ordinary there. Fellow drivers did sometimes razz Sam. While that may be a contributor to why he wrecked his bus, it doesn’t seem to be a major factor.

In order to work on their marriage, Janice drops off the kids at their grandma’s house for a few days. Jake and Kaitlin hate the idea, but want to see their parents work out things so they play along. On the first day, they become bored and long to go home. After discussing their feelings, they decide to wait it out a little longer.

A couple more people are killed by the phantom bus. Nick speaks with Gloria again, and she follows him back to the bus terminal to speak with Sam’s replacement driver. That leads to another dead end.

Meanwhile, Kaitlin and Jake decide to sneak off and ride the bus home. They need to change buses a couple of times with the final route belonging to bus 39. Janice finds out they have left and calls Nick to tell him they must be riding the bus home. Knowing they will end up on bus 39’s old route, he panics and tries to locate them with Gloria. They steal a bus in the process when Nick’s car becomes blocked in.

As Kaitlin and Jake prepare to board bus 39, Nick wrecks his bus near them in his hurry. Too injured to save his kids, Gloria approaches Sam as he is about to lure the kids on board. She offers her life in exchange. Sam gladly accepts. Once on board, the demon passengers brutally kill her so Sam has his revenge and Satan has her soul.