Ladies and gentlemen, we may have found a winner upon which to bestow the honor of most disturbing horror movie of the year. That distinction goes to Dashcam. A film that scares the viewer with so-called found footage — and which is so insane, an audience member actually got sick at the film’s premiere.
The central premise of the movie, which director Rob Savage shot on an iPhone, is that a musician played by Annie Hardy is feeling run down in pandemic-era Los Angeles. Fleeing quarantine, she decamps to London to connect with a bandmate, played by Amar Chadha-Patel. So far, so good. The movie — which premiered in the UK at the London Film Festival back in October — soon enough veers into “holy s**t” territory, though. Specifically, when Annie starts live-streaming her surroundings.
Dashcam movie 2022
“Dashcam was a RIDE,” writer, director, and producer Nia Childs tweeted. “I can’t remember the last time I’ve had that much fun — the audience just make it. Screaming, laughing, at one point I think someone was nearly sick?”
The film is coming to US theaters later this summer. “I am, to use the parlance of our movie, SO M*THERF*CKING EXCITED to be working with Momentum Pictures and Blumhouse on the release of DASHCAM,” said Savage, according to our sister publication Deadline. “I can’t wait for audiences to see the madness we’ve concocted.”
Adds Momentum Pictures’ EVP of Global Home Entertainment, Ian Goggins: “We are elated to share this exciting new project with North American and U.K audiences. Rob is an incredible filmmaker, and we are thrilled to be partnering with him and the entire Blumhouse team on this film which has already received positive reactions and buzz from festival audiences.”
“Filled with gore and repugnance”
Rotten Tomatoes ranks the #1, top-rated horror movie release of 2022 so far as A24’s X, in which a group of actors tries to secretively shoot a porno in Texas. But an elderly couple catches them in the act and puts the actors in a fight for their lives.
By all indications, however, Dashcam is going to have everyone talking here upon its release. For better or for worse.
“Dashcam is undeniably a crazy ride filled with gore and repugnance, but the unsatisfying ending detracts from the film’s overall reception, and the main character playing essentially herself is neither funny nor entertaining,” reads a 1.5/5 critics review on Rotten Tomatoes from the Daily Dead. Overall on the review aggregation site, the film’s critics score currently stands at 53 percent. That’s based on 49 reviews.
Blumhouse Productions, the company behind Dashcam, has produced more than 150 films and TV series. Notably, those have earned theatrical grosses of more than $4.8 billion.
Meanwhile, check out some of our other horror movie coverage: