{"id":14099,"date":"2021-08-01T09:59:54","date_gmt":"2021-08-01T09:59:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.horrifiedmagazine.co.uk\/?p=14099"},"modified":"2023-01-17T18:14:52","modified_gmt":"2023-01-17T18:14:52","slug":"exhibit-a","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.horrifiedmagazine.co.uk\/film\/exhibit-a\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Come and have a dance with Andy’: Exhibit A (2007)"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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'Come and have a dance with Andy'<\/h4>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Exhibit<\/h1>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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A<\/h1>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Dom Rotheroe’s Exhibit A isn’t often the first found-footage title that springs to mind, but Duncan Gates argues that it stands head and shoulders above a number of better-known contemporaries…<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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\u2018All I\u2019m talking about is better understanding.\u2019<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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I<\/p>\n

t\u2019s only when sitting through 90-plus minutes of slow-building tension that you realise jump-scares (however expertly done) are in fact cathartic release mechanisms for cowards.<\/b><\/span> <\/span>The Shining<\/b><\/em> (Stanley Kubrick, 1980), <\/span>Ringu<\/em> (Hideo Nakata, 1998), <\/span>The Vanishing<\/b><\/em> (George Sluizer, 1988), all the \u2018top dogs\u2019 are ones that never really leave you, and today I found another one: Dom Rotheroe\u2019s 2007 Leeds-based found-footage chiller, <\/span>Exhibit A<\/b><\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n

I know, you\u2019re wondering how all those words could possibly come together into anything more than a diverting curio, let alone one of the best British horrors of the 21st century, and to its credit, I think Exhibit A<\/b><\/em> is very aware of this.<\/p>\n

It roots itself firmly in a lower-middle-class setting that\u2019s evocative of the early part of Ghostwatch<\/b><\/em><\/a> (Leslie Manning, 1992) – a bit of a nondescript house on a nondescript street with generic-ish family doing generic-ish things. We get an early sense that daughter Judith King (an excellent Brittany Ashworth) is the closest to a disruptor, sheltering behind her new video camera, and largely forcing the narrative perspective, initially oscillating between her closeted attraction to a neighbour, and the oafish antics of older brother Joe (a less-visible but highly impactful Oliver Lee).  \"exhibit<\/p>\n

In short-ish order, the action transfers to a comparatively bleak and windswept coast, where sits the larger, older, boarded-up house that the aspirant King parentals Andy (Bradley Cole) and Sheila (Angela Forrest) are hoping to buy. A less interesting film would have lingered here, soaking up the faintly Woman In Black<\/em> atmosphere, milking the \u2018welcome\u2019 that the incomers will receive, but in fact, it\u2019s a bait-and-switch: Rotheroe takes us back to suburbia almost immediately, confirming that the coastal pile is a dramatic Cherry Orchard, rather than a Hill House.<\/p>\n

Cole and Forrest take over driving the action, and they\u2019re both superb. Andy King in particular is an iconic middle-English creation, all classic comedy references and wacky aprons, straining away from the \u2018serious\u2019 approach that Sheila eye-rollingly points him towards. They\u2019ve assimilated so thoroughly into their \u20182.4 children\u2019 roles that you feel they no longer know who they are, but it\u2019s only later in the film that you realise exactly how cold and dark the gulf in their knowledge is of themselves, and each other.<\/p>\n

A series of incrementally awful decisions made to maximise property value and expedite the Kings\u2019 move takes its toll on all the family, but especially Andy. You will see in him someone you\u2019ve known, someone driven by the purest intention to be the patriarchal \u2018everything\u2019 to his family, whilst all the time he\u2019s actually pulling them closer to \u2018nothing\u2019. In the latter stages he takes over the camera, but Rotheroe allows him no pathos. Andy obsesses over his family\u2019s secrets, tearfully incapable of understanding how he can be \u2018the baddie\u2019, and when the truth comes, it doesn\u2019t set him free.<\/p>\n

In Andy King is a type of lethally-dangerous everyman that\u2019s still far too rare in horror cinema – he\u2019s done the right things, made the sacrifices life has seemingly wanted him to make, been the dad, the mate, the husband that society wants, and he gets no reward but an empty pool staring back at him. \"exhibit<\/p>\n

In Sheila also there\u2019s something poignantly recognisable – a resignation that she\u2019s making the best of what was probably the wrong decision many years ago, and a deep drive to power through the lows as they multiply. There could have been a more misogynist reading of the narrative that makes her antagonistic, even complicit, but really her tragedy is that she\u2019s so used to \u2018coping\u2019 that she can\u2019t manage to properly pull away.<\/p>\n

Exhibit A<\/em> isn\u2019t perfect – there\u2019s perhaps a trope and subplot too far – but it\u2019s ultimately streets ahead of most of its better-known contemporaries. I got a little bonus chill from this 1-star Amazon review by \u2018Tim C\u2019, who misses the point so entirely it takes on a sort of magnificence:<\/p>\n

\u2018Whilst the film was realistic, I just don\u2019t get how a loving father could\u2026 That is surely more the way a serial killer behaves.\u2019<\/p>\n

Tim, I have to tell you that in the real world the call is never coming from inside the house – it\u2019s someone yelling to you from the front room.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tDuncan Gates\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/h4>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
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Bird nerd. Ghost geek. Unfashionable dramatist. Creator of https:\/\/thelisteninginch.podbean.com Rep: @SteinbergAssocs. All views personal.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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\"Dr<\/a><\/div>
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\tPhibes Lives! \u2013 50 Years Of Dr Anton Phibes\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/h2>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t03\/04\/2021\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\tJohnny Restall celebrates 50 years of Dr Anton Phibes - Malevolent Master of Music & Murder...\u200b\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/article><\/div>
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\tThe Vampire Lovers: A Fiftieth Anniversary Retrospective\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/h2>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t05\/10\/2020\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\tIn an in-depth feature, cultural historian John J Johnston looks back at the inception of Hammer\u2019s most important productions of the 1970s, and endeavours to reassesses the film\u2019s reputation, fifty years after its release...\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/article><\/div>
\"freddie<\/a><\/div>
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\tFreddie Francis: There and Back Again\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/h2>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t24\/11\/2020\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\tFreddie Francis' cinematographic brilliance is undisputed but his sojourns into directing produced some British horror favourites among fans. Jane Nightshade selects 10 of his best...\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/article><\/div><\/div><\/div>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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More film ><\/a><\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Dom Rotheroe’s EXHIBIT A (2007), isn’t often the first found-footage title that springs to mind, but Duncan Gates argues that it stands head and shoulders above a number of better-known contemporaries…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":123684,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"no-sidebar","site-content-layout":"page-builder","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"disabled","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[671,1891],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.horrifiedmagazine.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/exhibit-a.png?fit=550%2C309&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.horrifiedmagazine.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14099"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.horrifiedmagazine.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.horrifiedmagazine.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.horrifiedmagazine.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.horrifiedmagazine.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14099"}],"version-history":[{"count":19,"href":"https:\/\/www.horrifiedmagazine.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14099\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":123703,"href":"https:\/\/www.horrifiedmagazine.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14099\/revisions\/123703"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.horrifiedmagazine.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/123684"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.horrifiedmagazine.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14099"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.horrifiedmagazine.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14099"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.horrifiedmagazine.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14099"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}