Exhibit A

You can see the signs of what's supposed to happen but it was executed well. The ending still gave the unsettling/disturbing feeling.

The timely story of a normal family disintegrating under financial pressure, eventually driven to the unimaginable. We witness the terrifying events unfold through daughter Judith's video camera, which subsequently becomes Exhibit A.

This film is a slow burning nightmare about real life financial struggles that anyone can relate to. Not many found-footage films are executed in such a realistic fashion as Exhibit A, the drama was raw, the deteriorating family at the center of the story could be the family next door, or even worse yours! The film is an extremely upsetting watch that I will never want to watch again, making it kind of hard to recommend something of such depressing magnitude. The film though stands as a testament that you don't need a large budget, well-known actors or an A-list director to create a movie that has such a powerful impact.

The performances were remarkable and were all too real, the actors made everything seem like a horrifying reality. Bradley Cole gives one of the most gripping, startling downward spiral of a family man since Jack Nicholson's performance from The Shining, absolutely bone chilling! Bradley plays Andy King, a seemingly normal husband and father of two who is a secret lie, which digs him and his family into the darkest side of human nature. Brittany Ashworth gives such a sympathetic and devastating performance that will grab your heart. Brittany plays Judith King, the lonely, shy, with a fragile soul that is confused sexually and may be in the closet. Judith basically documents every moment of the family's day-to-day life, as a result she discovers the dad's damaging secret and his disturbing change in behavior. Angela Forrest gives such an earnest performance; she plays an everyday mom Sheila King, who is excited about her husband's promotion that leads them to put a down payment on beautiful beach house. Aggressive sparks fly when questionable things start to unravel and hidden secrets come to light to disquieting results, an all too late realization for the wife and mother. Lastly, Oliver Lee who plays Joe King, the jokester son who begins to butt heads with his father and starts to truly hate him. He was kind of the comic relief of the film and you relate to his character as he can be you or someone you know, making the last moments all the more horrific and lingering.

Writer, Director, Dom Rotheroe has created a timely, ripped from the headlines, distressing story that happens to be a found-footage horror. He connects with the audience, grabs their souls and throws them in the heart stopping realism of financial woes, which takes a normal father in a downward, sinister direction of the most unthinkable. This was surprisingly a very well made found-footage film despite its limited budget, though a very harsh and sad film that will ruin your day. It was like you weren't even watching a movie, but more like watching evidence at a murder trial, kind of similar to the real life case involving John List of 1971. Nothing you enjoy watching but too absorbing to stop. It's a shame that he hasn't made any other movies since this one, which was released back in 2007. The film deserves more recognition than what it got because it's one of the very few found-footage films that has a lasting impact.

Overall, this film will haunt you to the core, as the drama is all too real. The performances were compelling and heart shattering and the story were raw and have relevance. The last couple of minutes will traumatize you and will make you sick, a film you won't want to return to but definitely gets it's point across. Rent with caution! 6.6 out of 10

This movie came as a suggestion on this very website while I was reading the page of another movie (you know, the usual "users who watched this movie also liked..."), and I'm really glad I yielded to the curiosity of reading what it was all about. I liked some "found footage" films in the past, but I'm not crazy about the genre, still I was triggered by the scarce plot given here, and I just decided to watch it. Now I'm just through it, and I'm still in shock.

The first scene is a police label marking the footage we are about to see as found on a murder scene, so there is little to spoil about the plot. The impending doom of those we are about to meet is made clear from the beginning, only leaving in doubt about who is/are the victim/s and who is/are the murderer/s.

Then it all begins...

This film could be split in three parts, all of which last about half an hour. It takes some patience to get through the first one, as most of what we see is some obnoxious family games and shallow chit-chat, which serves the purpose of building the context and getting to know the characters. So, we soon come to learn that we're dealing with a somewhat clumsy, but warm and caring father, seemingly a good house man all in all, but with the hint of a shadow looming over him (which will be developed later in the film), a tender, over-sensitive daughter kind of confused with herself, a mother who appears to be steadfast in her familiar role, but a little too stiff and bitchy, and an obnoxious son who is in his teens, but mostly behaves like a second grader or so to the rest of his family and in his leisure time. That is, a believable portrait of every day reality in your neighborhood: a perfect surface with its natural, human flaws. Oh, woe is me, will it not last...

In the second part, the secret shadow looming over the father begins to disclose, and we start witnessing his descent into weirdness first, and madness consequently. The dis-functionalities of the family, up to that moment quite dull and ordinary, quickly swirl down into a pit of ever growing frenzy, leading to the final showdown, which unravels in the third part.

I won't spoil anything about what goes on, but I'll just let you all know that this is not a horror movie, this is a dramatically realistic depiction of a well too known REAL horror.

The performances of the four main actors are stunning, the bond that grows between you and the characters is solid, real, you can feel it, touch it. As the story started developing, I found myself despising the boy, pitying the father, caring for the daughter, getting angry at the mother, and then having all these feelings just messed up and turned inside out as the events unraveled. But nonetheless, there was not a single moment when I was not feeling something for all of them. And I think this is one of the greatest achievements a movie can reach.

So, be prepared: you will be introduced to four people that you will get emotionally in touch with, only to be overwhelmed by the shocking doom that they will face.

On a final note: I stood astonished in front of my TV while the whole of the end credits silently rolled out and left an empty, black screen which lasted almost one minute, with no sound whatsoever. I just couldn't move away or stop the play. This is the level of the emotional grip this film has cast onto me.

You have been warned.

This is honestly the most uncomfortable I have felt watching a film since watching Soft (2006). I am not usually fond of found footage films, but there are good ones and Exhibit A is as well crafted as it is mesmerising.

The story was pretty realistic for me, I have known people and families like that, and whilst this is not a horror film it was definitely horrifying. I disagree that the pacing was off, as it is clearly meant to be a slow turning of the screw. This will never get the recognition it deserves as no one in their right mind could ever recommend watching this because its that good at what it does.

The acting in this is terrific all the way around. Since most all FF films are acted out based on an outline and dialogue points to it, you see a LOT of cuts since the actors mess up their "lines." Not here. Other than the natural cuts from scene to scene, there is very little in-scene cutting, meaning the actors delivered and met their marks.

My only problems with the film are that I never really got a sense why the father fell so far from sanity. Many people have gone through financial struggles without losing their minds, and I never got the sense the father was on edge, mentally, to do what he does at the end.

And the ending simply went on too long. It was the one time when the film lagged when usually the end is when these FF films pick up and race toward the climax.

Overall, a really well done job all the way around.