Occasionally, Annie tries to joke off the trouble that she and Stretch find themselves in after she impulsively takes money from a stranger (Seylan Baxter) to chauffeur Angela to a secluded residence. Annie tries to think of a rhyme for “orange” while she and Stretch are shot at and thrown around by various assailants, including a mysterious woman (Mogali Masuku) who, like Tony Danza, keeps calling out for “Angela!”
Annie says things like “so long, libtard” and “sh*t on my dick” like she’s got a specific kind of Internet Tourette Syndrome. Which checks out since Annie is the hostess of BandCar, an online streaming series where she drives around and improvises raunchy rap lyrics based on commenters’ suggestions. Only, unlike Annie Harding, who in real life also hosts an internet program called BandCar, Annie’s followers—represented in a chat sidebar on the screen’s lefthand side—speculate about Joe Biden’s blood-drinking habits and generally sound like Beavis and Buttheads’ grand-kids. Still, with fans like these, it stands to reason that Annie’s songs include free verses like “If you sanitize because you believe the lies that the mainstream media guys tell you.” Not exactly cutting edge stuff, as far political commentary goes, but it is a certain kind of water meeting its level.
That also seems to be the point of “Dashcam”: the entertainment that Annie offers her viewers during her UK sojourn doesn’t radically differ from her assaultive brand of stream-of-conscious shock jock humor. Imagine watching a composite of James Corden and Joe Rogan as she gets chased around by a vengeful wraith who doesn’t talk, but does love to fling everything else around her.
“Dashcam” also happens to be a showcase for disorienting special effects, most of which effectively keep viewers on their back-foot by making us wonder what we’re looking at. Now we’re in a car crash! Now we’re drowning in a car! Now we’re being chased around on all fours through the woods, into a hall of mirrors, and then back to another car!
In this way, “Dashcam” succeeds as a barrage of icky stimuli that may go great with a rowdy audience. (it’s already screened at some genre-friendly film festivals) So on the one hand: Savage and his co-creators deserve credit for dedicating themselves to a certain bit. On the other hand: I’m good, thanks.
Now playing in theaters and available on VOD.