He’s dead at the begining then he has to prove he overcame fear in order to ‘move up’ if not he goes back to earth. His girlfriend moved up and he (in the very end) got to move up too. It’s never made clear what the next stage is so it’s entirely possible they’ll be reborn somewhere and not remember each other.
Samuel L. Jackson in 187 and Deep Blue Sea (where I considered him to be the main character). I’m gonna have to search and see if someone has done a “greatest Samuel L. Jackson movie one-liners” thread.
William Peterson in To Live and Die in L.A.. Came as quite a surprise to my friends and I when we saw the video. Not a great film (VERY 80s), still fun to watch Peterson and Willem DeFoe chew their lines.
**An American Werewolf in London ** seems to fit the op pretty well. Both of the two hitchhikers are dead by the end.