I know I always hate it when my Dad goes insane..

Exhibit A (2007)
Directed By: Dom Rotheroe
Reviewer: Chuck Conry

The Prologue
Exhibit A, is one of those “lost footage” films that are popular now days. And for the record, I am a very big fan of those types of films, but this one comes from the UK. It packs on it a very realistic story of a family man who is just pushed to the breaking point and we see it from start to finish all on the video camera that he bought his teenage daughter after a mishap with a camera she had before. What follows is a slower but somewhat chilling tale that I’m sure will find it’s self a nice following here in the states.

The Movie
Exhibit A tells the timely story of a normal family disintegrating under financial pressure, eventually driven to the unimaginable. All is not as it seems as the King family go about their day-to-day lives oblivious of the horror to come. Dad Andy (Bradley Cole) is nursing a secret that ultimately leads to terrible consequences for them all. We witness these chilling events unfold through daughter Judith’s video camera, which subsequently becomes Exhibit A.

This movie is a clever little gimmick in it’s own right as the first thing you see when the movie starts is a title screen telling you what you are about to watch is evidence of a murder. So, we know someone is going to die and we also know it’s going to happen in the first person point of view of the very thing you are watching. What this does is really put you on guard from the start because we know things will go very badly for someone or a few someones, it’s just a matter of when. That sets an uneasy feeling about the film in the viewer that remains throughout the film. And that is a VERY good thing I think.

You have got to give credit to all of our actors here, as they do just what they are meant to do and it helps this thing a whole heck of a lot. We feel bad for the girl (Judith) who owns the camera we are seeing all of this from. We get greatly annoyed by her annoying brother (who is meant to be annoying), and we get very uneasy when her Dad starts to crack under all the pressure he is under thanks to the somewhat high maintenance mother. When his world starts to fall apart it’s under the watchful eye of Judith and her camera, and rest a sure the forth coming dread is in the air the whole time. The movie is like a time bomb that you are just waiting to blow up, and we have to wait a while, but it does blow. And I’ll admit in this nature and fashion the aftermath is a bit hard to watch.

Of course the movie does take a bit of time to get really going. And some might call that a slow build and like it, I do however with it was done a little quicker. But perhaps it’s more realistic to go that way with it? Regardless, like I said before, it’s hard at times to watch once you hit the end game of the film, and it’s not done in a gory or graphic way, it’s done in a very smart and realistic way. As far as first person or “lost” footage films go, I found Exhibit A to be very realistic and very well worth a watch.

The Conclusion
Well, it’s not too shabby and overall a slow, but good watch. I’d say if you love or even just like “lost footage” films, then you’d enjoy this one. It’s done in a pretty real way, probably due to the fact that the actors did their very own camera work. If you want to check this one out, you can find it at Indiepix.

The Rating (6.5/10)