Dashcam (2021)

There is no point in me trying to act coy here. I hated Dashcam. Absolutely hated it. And I hated it all the more due to the fact that the main creative people involved, director Rob Savage and co., gave us one of the best horror movies that made innovative use of the global pandemic restrictions, Host.

Dashcam is, despite the title, a mix of dashcam footage and footage filmed through a couple of different phones. I guess “Whateverisclosesttohandcam” was judged to be far too wieldy a title. It shows Annie Hardy, playing Annie Hardy, having a very rough evening, and there is fun to be had, I think, from seeing bad things happen to a bad person (Hardy is an obnoxiously aggressive anti-vaxxer, anti-masker, MAGA-hat-wearing type). That is the aim anyway. I didn’t have fun. At all. I spent the runtime of the movie stuck with someone I hated, having her tiresome presence punctuated by tiresome jump scares and a LOT of awful camerawork (because it is “found footage” so it doesn’t matter that you cannot make out what is going on . . . obviously).

Look, from what I have heard recently, there are people who believe that Hardy is playing someone onscreen not a million miles removed from her real persona. I am willing to consider that she may have spent the past year or so performing an extended piece of Kaufman-esque performance art though. Unfortunately, any other aspect of her character fails to make up for the overwhelming unpleasantness. It is mind-boggling to think of anyone putting up with her crap (co-star Amar Chadha-Patel is an absolute saint at times) and she doesn’t even convince as a talented musician, considering she is preoccupied with creating rhymes that revolve around variations of the words “penis” and “ass”. Hardy, onscreen anyway, is a foot-stamping child. Movie characters do not have to be likeable, but having even one small saving grace, be it humour, skill, or a bit of charm, can really help make a movie much easier to endure.

And this is an endurance test. From the horrible camerawork throughout to the “amusing” rants and lyrics delivered by Hardy, from the nonsensical set up of everything to a set-piece that creates tension from someone, ummmm, feeling the need to rescue a small keyboard that then makes a loud noise at an inconvenient time. Almost every minute of Dashcam is excruciating, and nothing on the shocks and scares front does enough to outweigh the multitude of negatives.

You could be forgiven for thinking that Savage, alongside Gemma Hurley and Jed Shepherd, who showed such inventiveness and skill in their previous feature, has been replaced by some talentless clone behind the camera here. Where there was once an ability to create real tension and entertainment there now just seems to be a void, both technically and artistically.

There’s no reason to think that those involved didn’t realise what they were doing. There is little middle ground here, Savage has served up something that viewers will either love or hate. I hated it, thanks, and I doubt I will see a worse studio film this year.

2/10

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Shudder Saturday: Host (2020)

People will look back at 2020 and view it with the right amount of bewilderment that it deserves. A global pandemic changed pretty much everything, from our views on the whole financial system to our movie-viewing schedules. So many companies suddenly realised that they could allow staff to work from home, so many idiots suddenly viewed important health advice as an attempt to trample over their human rights, and we have all started to work together to stay apart. It's not all been bad though. The volunteers have stepped up, random acts of kindness or entertainment have reminded me of the good in humanity, and creative people have found ways to create within a much smaller world, and with much more limited resources.

Host is a short horror movie (runs at just over 50 minutes) created during lockdown. It's all about a group of people, mostly women, who get together on a Zoom chat to try and experience an online seance. Things inevitably start to get a bit creepy, and viewers end up watching the participants being terrorised in their homes.

The cast all do very good work here, believable for every moment of this Zoom "meeting". I'll namecheck most of them - Haley Bishop, Jemma Moore, Emma Louise Webb, Radina Drandova, and Caroline Ward. They all play characters with then same first names, which makes everything easier, and probably helped to keep the tech side of things a lot simpler. Nobody really stands out, because the strength of the film lies in the concept and execution, but it's a pleasant surprise that nobody stands out as being too awful. That includes Alan Amrys, Edward Linard, and Seylan Baxter, who leads the way in the ceremonial proceedings, and offers guidance. The cast may not be star-studded, but most of the faces onscreen will be vaguely familiar to those who watch plenty of movies.

I'm not familiar with any other works from director Rob Savage, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Gemma Hurley and Jed Shepherd, but I'll certainly check out what else he has in his filmography, and would watch whatever he does next. Host has ingenuity and an enjoyable selection of scares, and it provides one hell of a calling card for all involved, no matter where they are already at in their careers.

There are one or two too many jump scares, as so often happens with films done in what is essentially "found footage" style, but they're easier to accept and enjoy when done as well as they are here. I'm not too proud to admit that Host got me on a few different occasions. I was very nervous by the time the final scenes were playing out, and while I waited for what was surely going to be one big final "boo" moment.

Lockdown may now be over, sort of (let's be honest, the conflicting advice and details from the government here in the UK don't exactly fill many people with confidence), but you may still be trying to find ways to fill some time, for a variety of reasons. If you have a spare hour, check this out. It's well worth your time.

8/10

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