Jeremy S
Implausible plot developments. Characters that are difficult to invest in. Excruciatingly long scenes of nothing happening.
Rated 2/5 Stars •
Rated 2 out of 5 stars
04/28/24
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Audience Member
Disturbing film albeit very good. Spoiler.... wasn’t the daughter alive at the end? It showed her breath on the camera
Rated 3.5/5 Stars •
Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars
12/26/18
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Audience Member
A British family plan to move to a bigger home on the beach after Dad gets his big promotion at work. The problem is that Dad doesn't get the promotion, but he won't admit the truth and goes to increasingly desperate lengths to cover up his lies. The disintegration of this family is captured by the daughter's new video camera. I understand some of the appeal of found footage films beyond just budgetary issues. There is an ability to reveal narrative in creative ways, and this film engages in them at times. But the costs of using the format are pretty enormous. Almost all character development is sacrificed to the central gimmick, so the film is stuck with tell you all about a tragedy happening to a bunch of people you don't care about. Additionally, all the tools a horror film has for building up suspense are junked in favour of asking us to watch really really long static shots of people yelling at each other. Could this work with a really well-crafted story? Maybe ... this sure isn't one though. There's a plot development at the 2/3 point that it would be charitable to call "idiotic", and the whole climax of the film rests on your acceptance of this absurd turn of events.
Rated 1.5/5 Stars •
Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars
02/01/23
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Audience Member
The movie starts with a portrait of a happy family, filmed by the sweet and sensitive daughter, and then one day the father comes home and announces to his eagerly expectant wife that he's gotten a promotion when he hasn't. The missus immediately sets out to live the kind of life that the right income can buy. Of course, because they actually don't have the money, they start going deeper and deeper into debt which, ultimately, begins the destruction of a family and pushes the father over the edge. Although this film borrowed from the "found footage" school, the story line is fresh, the actors are first rate, and the ending is heartbreaking. Sometimes real life is scarier than any fiction..
Rated 5/5 Stars •
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
02/21/23
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Audience Member
Finally we have a well-done found footage film which isn't in any way related to horror. Regardless of what some people say, this is a drama/thriller about a family that breaks due to financial crisis. The father does everything in his might to keep his family happy, yet when things go downhill he exposes his darker side until finally ending the movie with a shocking atrocity.
It was really well made, the actors did an amazing job of making everything believable, they even did all the camera work. I was surprised that such a great movie went unnoticed to the public eye, I barely found out about it myself. It is really an amazing and refreshing experience since I'm, like probably most people, tired of found footage movies with hauntings and supernatural elements. I'm sure many of you will appreciate this unknown charm.
Rated 5/5 Stars •
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
02/02/23
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Audience Member
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
Rated 3/5 Stars •
Rated 3 out of 5 stars
01/31/23
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