Film director Rob Savage has claimed his new film Dashcam will not be shown at Vue Cinemas because it was deemed to be too 'offensive'. Check out the trailer below and make your mind up for yourself:
Savage took to Twitter to share the news of the film's cancellation at Vue Cinemas ahead of its intended theatrical release on Friday, 3 June, along with a screenshot showing his conversation with someone who appeared to be a representative for the cinema company.
The film marks the latest release from the director behind the 2020 horror film Host and follows a musician played by Annie Hardy who breaks quarantine in Los Angeles to go and visit her bandmate, played by Amar Chadha-Patel, in London.
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The trailer alone was enough to divide fans over its content, and the representative speaking to Savage claimed Vue had decided to cancel screenings after staff members had a viewing of the film.
In a message to the director, the rep said: "I have received feedback from our staffing screen and they have decided we won't be showing Dashcam at any of our venues due to the contents of the movie which may offend our audiences, we at Vue believe in diversity and any movie which may offend audiences, we may decide to no longer show at the last second without notice. I'm sorry this is not the outcome you were looking for."
Vue issued a statement to LADbible following Savage's post on Twitter, saying: "Our decision not to screen DASHCAM was informed purely by the commercial conditions not being viable. We are currently investigating the cause of the incorrect information about our rationale for not screening this film, and we are sorry for any confusion that this has caused."
Though the cancellation may somewhat hinder those curious to see the film, Savage used it as a way to promote the title as he tweeted: "Apparently @vuecinemas have canceled our screenings of DASHCAM because the movie is too offensive! If that doesn’t make you want to watch this film, what will?"
The director followed up his post with links to screenings in the US and UK that are still set to go ahead, and later shared another post reading: "Have you got your tickets to the new movie banned from @vuecinemas AND rated 18 by the bbfc??"
Things take a dramatic turn for Annie's character in the film when she decides to livestream her actions for online viewers, but Savage made clear he wasn't concerned about the content of the film during an interview with NME, explaining: “I think if any genre should skirt the boundaries of being offensive, it’s horror.”
“[By] pushing people to uncomfortable places, horror reflects the world as it is. What I want to say when people get offended, it’s like the poster quote from The Last House on the Left: ‘Keep repeating to yourself: it’s only a movie, it’s only a movie’. It’s really meant to be a fun beer-and-pizza movie, where you laugh and gasp, and maybe if it offends you, that’s a good thing," he said.
Dashcam is set for a debut in theatres in both the US and the UK on 3 June.
Topics: TV and Film, Twitter, UK News
Emily Brown