Film Review: Dashcam (2021)
Momentum Pictures
(This review contains minor plot spoilers.)
Dashcam is a found footage film from Rob Savage, creator of peak-pandemic indie horror darling, Host. I personally was lukewarm on Host (though I may feel differently if I ever review it properly) so I didn’t come into Dashcam with the burden of inflated expectations; Host was fine, if this could be fine as well, I would be happy.
Now, if you haven’t seen the film, but have instead come to this review by way of the frothy waves of internet furor over its main character, you might want to brace yourself: I’m not going to spend another 800 words pearl-clutching and and talking about how ‘dangerous’ this film is. There are plenty of other dorks on the internet doing that and they all should be embarrassed by their collective level of practiced overreaction.
Our Antagonistic Protagonist
Momentum Pictures
The movie opens with Annie Hardy, a MAGA-thumping wanderwench who drives around her city live streaming her show Band Car, where she raps over the words her subscribers offer up. Most of her rhymes are redundant and vulgar in that I-spend-way-too-much-time-in-niche-white-hiphop-circles way, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t occasionally clever or amusing.
Annie is very upset about mask mandates, liberal politics, and a number of other pandemic-era hardships, so she pisses off to England (where, in my understanding, pandemic measures were far more restrictive) to track down her old bandmate, Stretch. Unfortunately for Annie, Stretch has seemingly evolved beyond their tone-deaf musical gimmickry of a decade earlier and is now living a nice stable life as a food delivery driver with a girlfriend. Lucky Stretch, lucky girlfriend.
Annie, still living in the days of their hedonistic tour-life past, quickly wears out her welcome. Stretch has settled down; he supports progressive politics that the edgelord Annie simply can’t abide or engage. It’s all very chewy and caricatured, but thankfully short-lived.
Annie says goodbye by stealing Stretch’s car and embarking on a joyride until his phone beeps and a food delivery is requested. Hungry and void of any moral conviction or basic maturity, Annie proceeds to pick up the food order, hoping it will be something she likes.
Realities of the Gig Economy
But the restaurant appears to be closed. After conducting some light explorations for her Band Car stream, a woman emerges from the back of the store with an offer of an envelope full of money if Annie will drive her elderly friend to a nearby address.
It’s shady as hell, but by this point we’ve established that Annie isn’t going to say no to a fistful of dollars, and she reluctantly agrees to take the aged, enfeebled woman, Angela, to the address. But something stinks about Angela, quite literally, and upon realizing that her backseat is now coated with human feces, Annie makes the surprisingly sympathetic move of stopping off at a public restroom in order to clean Angela up.
This is when she notices that the elderly woman has an Ariana Grande tattoo on her leathery stomach, and everything kicks off in a rapidly-escalating succession of weirdness. However you feel about this movie, there are some clever original elements.
Angela is not what she appears, but whatever she is both very powerful and hostile to another woman who shows up and tries to take her away from Annie. Angela uses both telekinesis and superhuman strength in short order, and as soon as she is returned to Annie’s backseat, we see blood begin to pour from beneath her facemask–the foremost symbol of pandemic restrictions which Annie despises most.
Momentum Pictures
All of this action, and what comes after, is framed by the steady, dribbling commentary of Annie’s followers on the left side of the screen. This is, after all, a digital-age found footage movie, and the inane torrent of stupid serves to give the audience something to read during the quieter parts of the film, as well as Annie something to play off of as needed. It’s quite brilliant.
Sympathy for the Devil?
In my assessment, both Annie and her following are clearly depicted as hollow, directionless caricatures. These controversial views are not being glorified, and Annie comes across as a hot mess of a troll from the first scene. We’re not inspired to feel sympathy for her, there are no sweeping intellectual forays into her beliefs. She’s a loud, absurdist goon, probably someone with a lot of hurt in their past who fell into the stupid pool and never got what she needed to swim to shore.
When the creature that is Angela starts hunting her, along with the people who want to get control of her, Annie slams haphazardly from one close call to another until she turns to face down the creature that’s chasing her.
Momentum Pictures
I don’t agree with any of Annie Hardy’s political positions, and I don’t think the creators of Dashcam expect you to. I do think she makes for a much more charismatic and fun character than a flat, nameless woke person would. The film is better for her presence, and the fact she’s obnoxious and believes dumb things allows us to feel okay not rooting for her when the blood starts to spurt.
Speaking of blood, I really enjoyed most of Dashcam’s violent setpieces. From a car being lifted and dropped into a body of water (with us inside) to the fiery inferno of a head-on collision, I thought the film did a great job using what’s in the found footage toolbox. It’s grim, gory, and paced steadily enough to become a bit predictable, but it does what we ask of found footage.
Verdict:
7/10
Strengths
Fun, if obnoxious main character
Great found footage setpieces
Occasionally scary
Weaknesses
Lots of loose ends, even for FF
Kind of makes you remember humanity sucks
Has undoubtedly hurt Savage’s career, even if I feel the intentionality around the politics is debatable
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