My TIFF 2021 coverage starts here! Kicking off this year’s Midnight Madness slate is Rob Savage’s followup to his 2020 “screenlife” hit, Host. Extrapolating COVID found footage beyond just a Zoom lobby, DASHCAM doubles down on pandemic horror to very mixed results. Ramping up the scope and intricacy - but not the ingenuity - of Host, the film gets wildly uneven mileage out of its grating protagonist and its everything-but-the-kitchen-sink terrors. Minor spoilers ahead…

Expanded from director Rob Savage’s two-minute viral video on Twitter, Host is a bite-sized horror treat that comes at the perfect time. While it doesn’t reinvent horror or even the “screenlife” subgenre, Host gets by with a bevy of unsettling, clever, and economical choices, all within the space of a single Zoom call. The film is now streaming on Shudder. Minor spoilers ahead…