It’s the tenth of October 2022 and time for another entry in our KOween 31 Days of Halloween feature. Today we are taking a look at another found footage horror, the third found footage horror movie so far this October, in the form of award winning UK horror movie Exhibit A.
Little footnote here, Adrian Tofei, who would go on to direct the well liked Be My Cat: A Film For Anne, cites Exhibit A as the best found footage movie he has ever watched. And, spoiler alert, I am inclined to agree with him. Let’s take a look.
Exhibit A
Dom Rotheroe’s Exhibit A follows a family of four living in Northern England; mum Angela, Dad Andy, Son Joe and daughter Judith. Judith, played by Brittany Ashworth, has been gifted a video camera after her Dad, played by Bradley Cole, accidentally broke her old one. Judith begins documenting the everyday life of the family.
Andy, is a jovial guy and a big fan of traditional British comedy. He collects comedy memorabilia and often breaks out into impressions of English comedians. Andy has been chasing a promotion at work and, with the money from the promotion, he plans to move the family to the seaside.
While Judith holds up the camera to the family’s, seemingly, normal everyday life. She unwittingly records the slow decline of her father’s mental state. Burdened by his unwavering desire to move to a better home and the trouble at work he has been hiding. Andy’s life begins to spiral out of control. And with it, the lives of the family and friends that look up to him.
Another Found Footage Gem
We’ve covered a number of found footage horror movies so far in our 31 Days of Halloween feature. I’ll admit, the whole sub-genre is a bit of a guilty pleasure of mine. Don’t get me wrong, I am not blind to the fact that most of it is absolutely shite. But there are some genuinely great examples out there.
Exhibit A is most definitely one of those found footage movies. This is a horror that is Found Footage in its most traditional sense. Exhibit A is presented as a collection of recovered evidence of a crime committed by a person. The movie plays out as though we are watching that evidence directly with minimal editing.
We see the family enjoying happy times together. Celebrating birthdays and just doing the usual mundane stuff that families do. All while, in secret, a horrible tragedy is just beginning to unfold.
Just like Noroi: The Curse, which we reviewed a few days ago, Exhibit A takes the best parts of the genre and throws away the bad stuff. Fantastic acting, a compelling plot, and some genuinely horrifying moments add up to one of the absolute best found footage horror movies ever made. And, on top of that, it is criminally forgotten and underappreciated. It is not for everyone, though.
Gritty and Realistic
There is a DIY feeling to Exhibit A that perfectly fits the theme. The footage is grainy and rough, lighting is variable and often extremely poor. There is no real editing, and the scenes are spliced together in a somewhat nonsensical way. All of this adds to the realism of the production and makes everything all the more believable. Dialogue is improvised to add to the realism and camera footage is shaky and handheld.
The authenticity that comes along with found footage is particularly effective when it comes to crime related stories. If a movie is well acted and has a believable, feasible plot. Found footage will add to that and amplify it. If a movie features terrible acting and farcical, unrealistic, situations. Found footage will shine a light on that, making it all the more apparent.
When done right; found footage is incredibly effective. You can be taken right into the shoes of the characters involved and share their reality with them. Fear, pain, happiness and all. Exhibit A is found footage done right. It is incredibly effective.
Genuinely Disturbing and Severely Underrated
Exhibit A is, in my opinion, severely underrated. You just don’t hear much about it and I am sure that has a lot to do with its presentation. It’s a low budget movie from the North of England featuring minimal scares and a depressing suburban horror plot. It feels, at times, less like a horror and more like an actual compilation of evidence. It is, however, one of the most disturbing movies I have ever watched.
Exhibit A taps into a type of horror that is so close to reality. The horror of domestic violence and familial abuse. The events of Exhibit A play out in real life all the time. You read about it in the newspaper and on true crime sites multiple times a year. Chris Watts and similar cases immediately jump to mind. Andy’s decline replicates these cases and is so well done that it is legitimately unsettling.
I would genuinely warn people who have had difficult childhoods around angry people to approach this movie with caution. Andy’s breakdown is so authentic that I imagine it could potentially trigger bad memories for anyone who has been a victim of a violent parent or family member. Whether this plays into how much this movie impacts you, or not, I don’t know. I had a difficult childhood and can relate to much of what happens in Exhibit A. I am sure many other people will feel this way as well.
Incredible Acting
Exhibit A is fully improvised which makes the fantastic acting all the more impressive. There isn’t a weak performance in the entire movie but special mention has to go out to Brittany Ashworth, as Judith, and Bradley Cole, as Andy.
We, for the most part, see the world through Judith’s eyes (well, camera) and Brittany Ashworth does an incredible job. It’s a tall task but she adds a sense of humanity and fragility to the movie. Whether the cast were given pointers or not I don’t know. Some of the scenes between her and Andy, whether fully improvised or not, are incredibly powerful.
Bradley Cole, as Andy, is the real star of the show, however. His performance is incredible, both funny at times and menacing at others. He does such a fantastic job of illustrating the breakdown of a person over the span of a few weeks. He puts together a powerful portrayal of a person suffering from vulnerable narcissism.
It would be remiss of me to not point out how much of a tough watch the final 15 minutes of this movie can be. Much of that is down to the acting and chemistry between the characters. It is affecting stuff and demands no small amount of caution. Exhibit A is almost tough to recommend due to its realism. It’s less a horror and more just a horrific depiction of crime that happens everyday all over the world. The starkly depressing ending only serves to highlight that. This is not a movie for everyone and not a movie for all horror fans.
Should You Watch Exhibit A?
Exhibit A is a movie that is as brilliant as it is depressing but it is not for everyone. Horribly grim in its portrayal of the mental decline of a family patriarch, Exhibit A pulls no punches. Fantastic acting and stand out performances from Brittany Ashworth and Bradley Cole keep you engaged throughout all the way to the movie’s disturbing climax. Likely to stay with you for some time after watching, Exhibit A is almost difficult to recommend due to its unrelenting commitment to authenticity. It probably won’t appeal to all horror fans and barely qualifies as horror. But as a unique found footage movie with a disturbing, realistic, portrayal of crime. It is one of the best and you should definitely watch Exhibit A.
