A polarizing film with a compelling lead, “DASHCAM” won’t be for everyone, but the director of the breakout hit “HOST” commands attention.
Rob Savage’s Host was a breakaway hit that was perfectly suited for the lockdown. Other films have been about isolation and loneliness, but Savage’s film offered escapism through a straight-up horror story.
His latest movie deals with the pandemic from a different angle.
DASHCAM is about a woman named Annie (Annie Hardy) who heads to London to escape the lockdown requirements in the United States. After stealing her friend Stretch’s (Amar Chadha-Patel) car, she is forced to deal with supernatural evil.
When it comes to point of view or found footage films, it is almost a given the main character(s) be at least a little annoying. DASHCAM ups the ante, by providing a lead that will be almost universally hated.
The fact that she is an anti-vaxxer who freely uses words like “libtard” and “feminazi” will obviously turn off some people. But even those who agree with her views may find it hard to take her outrageous behavior. This includes yelling at shop owners about masks and telling Londoners America is number one using one finger.
Even if her trolling antics impress people, Annie’s humor is not for everyone.
Her freestyle raps are filled with jokes about anal sex and pedophilia, and her pranks include slapping someone in the face with a spit-covered hand. And she ALWAYS has the dial turned all the way up.
Ironically, she is incredibly charismatic.
It is impossible to not pay attention to Annie. She is so good that she will have audiences ignoring the Livestream comments and only watching her. It is a lot more impressive than it may sound. Especially considering how important the comments section is in parts of DASHCAM.
The film is incredibly gory at times, but is otherwise a paint by numbers found footage flick. The expected shaky cams and jump scares are present here and there, but there is little in the way of a plot once the main action kicks in.
Films in this subgenre tend to have an uneven pace; things move incredibly quickly before slowing down so everyone can catch their breaths.
DASHCAM is more erratic than others, moving at an almost breakneck speed before grinding to an almost complete stop.
This stands out since it is so short. (It runs about an hour and twenty minutes, but this includes an admittedly awesome end credits scene that goes on for a while.)
Due to the nature of DASHCAM (Annie has a Livestream in which she makes up raps based on viewer comments; Hardy actually does this in real life), much of the dialogue is improvised. While this leads to some creative and funny rhymes, it also lends itself to repetition. There are also a number of moments where literally nothing is said.
Ultimately, Annie will determine how much a person enjoys the film. If her politics do not offend people, then her brand of comedy is almost certain to.
Those who are able to get past all of that will find a funny movie with a lead who is almost impossible not to watch.
Overall Rating (Out of 5 Butterflies): 2.5
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