DASHCAM – found footage review

REVIEW!

Hey you, it’s a review. 

I don’t rhyme often, until I do. 

That totally ties into this movie and this review. 

I SWEAR IT!

Anyway. 

There are movies that are sit down, think about, contemplate, and question your life movies. Those are great. They are amazing. They open your mind to the world around you and inside you. 

They are great. 

You don’t always want that though. 

You know?

Sometimes you want that fancy, bougie meal but sometimes you just want that greasy burger because you are hungry and craving it. 

And there’s nothing wrong with that, man. 

Nothing. 

THIS is that sort of movie. 

It’s a popcorn movie. 

Unlike the director’s other film, HOST, this is a roller coaster style film that smacks you in the face for about 70 minutes and never apologizes once. You will love it or you will hate it but you will have a visceral experience. 

FIRST, this is SUPER SHAKY CAM. 

Be warned. 

I honestly dunno if I have seen many films that are shakier than this one. THANKFULLY I am sorta used to this sort of thing so it didn’t bother me but it may bother you. What it does is make it really hard to know what on earth is happening, which hides a lot of seams but man does it make it frustrating if you are trying to follow the bouncing ball. 

So. 

Dashcam is set during the heart of the pandemic lockdown and follows a woman named Annie as she presents content to her streaming channel BandCar. The premise for BandCar is that she drives around and her viewers will throw out words that she will use to make songs with. We quickly learn that she is a very no-holds-barred personality that does and says what she thinks and the world of the lockdown is cramping her style. Uninvited, Annie heads overseas to England to drop in on an old friend in the hopes of livening up things and hopefully escaping the restrictions in the United States. Unfortunately, her aggressive personality rubs the former bandmate ‘Stretch’ and his girlfriend the wrong way and there is immediate tension. Annie decides to tag along with Stretch on his food delivery runs and gets him in trouble and things go downhill for her from there. She ends up ‘borrowing’ his car and heads out into the city and gets convinced to take a woman in obvious pain some help. What had been a rough evening takes a turn for the horrific as her passenger turns out to be hiding a dangerous secret that puts Annie and her devil may care attitude in immediate and deadly peril. 

They establish very quickly that many folks – me, me, me – are not going to ‘like’ Annie. She’s abrasive, she’s unapologetic, and she’s offensive as heck. Oh, and she’s an alt-right kook that doesn’t believe in the pandemic. What we are then asked to do is to still find the humanity in her where we will pull for her in ever more and more dodgy situations. She is a jerk and this is an interesting film because it makes you connect with her. 

You do though, because, as much of a jerk she is, she’s funny. 

Ridiculously funny. 

And that’s the thing, this is an intense film, and a very bloody and gross film, but it is funny, something I didn’t expect. 

The film maintains the found footage very well, though there’s a lot of points where you’re like – why is anyone still filming (there is a reason, and it’s that she’s an ego driven person who needs anonymous validation), but it works. It works.

The acting is good, with the standout being Annie, who really is just fantastic as the lout at the mic. 

It’s very intense, and once it gets going it does not slow down. 

The big issue here is that, as with a lot of similar types of films, is that we aren’t given any real answers. HOST is similar but it gives you ENOUGH, here you get ‘enough’ but it still doesn’t feel that way. I can tell you what is going on but not with any reasons or any deeper Why and it was an issue to me. Maybe it won’t be for you. 

It’s a fun movie. It’s a gruesome movie. It’s an offensive movie. A lot of folks will get a kick out of it because it is way more watchable than a lot of the found footage hitting these days. 

It’s not great though. 

I needed more REASON, though that’s a decent ending and the end credits, while tiresome, are great. 

Definitely worth a look if you can keep your expectations in check. 

3.75 out of 5  

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