FILM GUTTER REVIEWS: ​EXHIBIT A (2007)

Dir. Dom Rotheroe, 85 mins

Well that most certainly didn’t bring a smile to my face…

I’ve discussed in these pages before that it’s rare I get to review much British cinema, but I recently stumbled across this one on Amazon Prime which I had a dim recollection of watching some years back and an equally dim recall of rather liking. It’s equally not that common I get to watch much by way of found footage movies, so this one ticks two bills that make it a little different from our usual fare. Dom Rotheroe’s 2007 feature seemed to go by fairly unheralded, but having just polished this one of for the second time it feels like it didn’t get the credit it deserved.

So, Exhibit A is presented as just that – a police evidence tape. The whole thing is shot on a camcorder freshly bought by the King family, mostly carried around by teenage daughter Judith. In no small part she uses it to obsessively spy on neighbour Claire, who she’s infatuated with. But we also capture plenty of the family life, and there’s big news as dad Andy has gotten a promotion that enables them to move to a bigger house. From that point on, though, Andy begins to act increasingly erratically and secretively. As things get more and more bizarre, it turns out that he’s not got the promotion at all and trouble is brewing inside and outside of the King household. This leads to the underlying tension in the family exploding to a boiling point and all the secrets of its four members coming out…

Exhibit A is certainly not the most extreme movie I’ve watched in terms of gore and violence – in fact it’s probably one of the least in-your-face brutal offerings to date. But it’s an absolute car crash of a movie – not that it’s bad, but in the sense that you’re watching it knowing that something incredibly awful is ultimately going to happen. It’s a slow burner for sure, and takes a bit of time to get going, but I’d argue that changing the pacing would make the whole thing feel rather artificial. To keep that natural edge it can’t all be on point and smooth plot development in the way a traditional film might be. Some of the shots are only really to help develop character, but I don’t mind that personally. The family dynamic feels very believable, and Bradley Cole does a great job in the role of father Andy, going from a harmless, bumbling ball of dad jokes to an uptight, desperate and ultimately dangerous individual. There are lots of nice reveals throughout, and it’s a deeply uneasy and uncomfortable watch – it reminds me of something like a Megan is Missing or even A Requiem For a Dream in its structure, and sits not exactly on a par with those two but sure as hell not far off.

With all that said, it’s not without its flaws. While I think the two lead characters in Andy and Judith are really well performed, some of the other acting displays are not quite on that same level. The found footage means that some of the elements look very chaotic – that may well have been by design, but at times it does feel a little much, particularly the amount of night vision that gets used throughout. Plot-wise it is a little messy, not always moving along neatly, but I didn’t mind that so much as a way to capture more reality. But overall this is a film that leaves a very strong impression, and is not likely to leave your memory any time soon…

RATING: 8/10. British found footage is not something I’ve really encountered before – though I’m sure it’s out there – but this was a very fine offering. Dreadfully claustrophobic and unpleasant to watch almost from the get-go, you’re simply waiting as a viewer for this one to degenerate into something horrible – and when it does, it does a great job of depicting that descent. It pulls the story together slowly, bit by bit, and if you’re partial to the subgenre of found footage I think you’ll be bound to get plenty out of this one. Just don’t expect it to do anything to brighten your day…

THE HEART AND SOUL OF EXTREME HORROR FILM REVIEWS