Exhibit A

The found footage genre gets quite a lot of stick. Admittedly it does feel like a new found footage horror film is churned out every week and most of them feel like the same film. Some are quite brilliant though. REC, is probably the finest example the sub-genre has to offer and the criminally under seen Noroi: The Curse is probably the scariest film I have ever sat through. I had never heard of Exhibit A until I stumbled across it on a list which featured the scariest found footage movie moments. Because I'm a twisted individual, the idea of a family crumbling in front of their own camcorder appealed to me and so I sought it out immediately.

I made a point of reading very little about it because it clearly had a shocking ending which I didn't want spoilt. I'd urge everyone else to do the same, however if you do know the ending outcome, don't worry because it's still worth the watch. It's a wonderful idea for a found footage film. There are no Spanish zombies, or Blair witches and there are no Norwegian trolls either. It's all about a regular nuclear family, probably not dissimilar to yours or someone you know and that's where the disturbing horror really lies.

The film has obviously (and probably literally) been made on a shoestring, but it's all the more authentic for it. Exhibit A could've easily turned into an embarrassing PSHCE film if it felt false, but thankfully it doesn't. It helps that the performances are so good, especially by the Dad who doesn't have an easy role to play at all. The Mum sometimes felt a little wooden, but towards the end she crucially pulls out a powerful and authentic performance.

The trouble with most found footage films is that they don't actually feel like they've been found. Diary of the Dead, for example uses multiple cameras and even has music playing over some scenes! Exhibit A is by far the most 'real' found footage film I've seen. They've obviously shot on an actual cheap camcorder and used a lot of improvisation. You buy into the story and actually begin to feel like you know the characters, thus you care about what happens to them.

Exhibit A is about a man slowly cracking under financial pressures. It starts out comically with lots of funny and warm family moments. I also liked how we got to uncover lots of little things about Judith, the daughter who does the majority of the filming. In the end it becomes a film about secrets and how every family has them. There's a great moment mid-way through where the film starts to take an uneasy turn into psychological horror. What begins as the Dad trying to humorously stage a video for You've Been Framed becomes a desperate act of anger, verging on insanity.

It's a very slow film to get going, with a lot of unnecessary scenes which slow the film down, however this does add to the authenticity of it all. It's the final half hour where things take a disturbing turn and it becomes gripping to watch. The final five minutes are an incredibly harrowing watch. It has imagery that will sear its way into your brain and stay there for a long time.

Exhibit A is a great no budget horror film. It basically tells the same disturbing tale as Michael Haneke's striking debut, The Seventh Continent. Whilst, Exhibit A isn't as mind-numbingly depressing as The Seventh Continent, it is almost as effect. The acting is great and features some very powerful scenes which will stay with you. It may be a little slow to begin, but it's well worth sticking with as you feel immersed in the life of this family. It's a remarkable little film which deserves way more attention than it has received.

This is a found footage film that deviates in that there is nothing supernatural in the eeriness of it. Tale of a family with typical secrets except for the father who descends into his madness. What follows is a realistic depiction of mental breakdown. Slow burn to the end, and a sad end it is. I have nothing to do with this film or anyone with the production. Just a psychologist in America who happens to like these types of films.

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.

Strengthened by compelling performances from its faithful cast, making extremely effective use of its camera to capture all the unfolding drama, and steadily escalating its gradually- building tension over the course of its runtime, Exhibit A is an excellent example of smart, gripping storytelling that also goes down as possibly the most underrated work of its genre.

Set in Yorkshire, Exhibit A follows the day-to-day activities of a normal family that is driven to the unimaginable due to the pressure of their current financial situation. We witness the whole set of events through daughter Judith's video camera, which are set in motion when her dad hides a secret from the family which ultimately leads to devastating consequences.

Co-written & directed by Dom Rotheroe, Exhibit A is crafted with thorough understanding of what it needs to be and the way each segment combines with the next to make road for the chilling finale is truly admirable. Another key aspect that this indie horror ends up nailing is something that most of its counterparts tend to skip over, and that's the attention provided to its characters.

The scripted characters are pretty much like your neighbours next door. The cast portraying them makes them all the more believable, with Brittany Ashworth & Bradley Cole impressing the most in their respective roles of Judith & her father. Where the former brilliantly exhibits the sensibilities of a worried daughter, the latter steals the show with his skillful rendition of a father undergoing a complete mental breakdown, which is unnerving to watch at times.

On an overall scale, Exhibit A is a first-rate example of escalating horror that implements its found-footage style in a riveting manner and is absolutely deserving of a broader audience. An edge-of-the-seat thriller capturing the disintegration of a normal family brought upon by financial pressures, Exhibit A is one of the best offerings of its genre that amplifies its tense ambiance amazingly well to culminate with a final segment that's just as heartbreaking as it is utterly disturbing. An underrated gem. Highly recommended.

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.