VOD Review: Exhibit A (2007)

"A Found Footage flick that actually feels like it's found footage."

SUBMITTED BY: Noorel Yaquin, who really enjoyed its Found Footage aesthetic.

Found Footage is kind of the bastard sub-genre of the Horror world anymore. Most FF flicks are made on the cheap; they use the same lame tricks and plot devices to tell their story; they make little to no logical sense; and they seldom follow their on rules.

Most of them tend to suck. 

But every once in a while one comes along that does things right, and reaffirms our belief in the whole conceit. Exhibit A is one such FF flick, and while it's not a perfect effort, it sure does showcase exactly what Cinema Verite movies are supposed to be.

The King's are a typical family living a typical life in Yorkshire, Northern England. Daughter Judith has just received a present of a new video camera from her father, which she immediately uses to film their daily lives. She also likes to film the girl next door whom she has a crush on, which kind of makes Judith a creeper.

YES, GIRLS CAN BE CREEPERS TOO!

As typical as they may be, there is trouble brewing for the King Family, though none but Dad know it; they're all banking on his new promotion to move to ease their money troubles and allow them to move to a better home, only it doesn't exist. Neither does Dad's job anymore. As Judith films everything going on around her, she captures her father's stress-induced breakdown, which is sure to end well for none of them. Especially her.

WHAT IS HE ON ABOUT?

Exhibit A is an incredibly grim Found Footage movie that feels like it could absolutely be real. Hell, we see stories like this on the news all of the time, so the movie plays like a slice-of-life piece that offers a look inside of a real-life headline.

Director Dom Rotheroe does the FF sub-genre proud by giving us a real story populated by real characters that are given plenty of room to develop. The pacing is slow, but the tension builds naturally and it never feels like we're watching any sort of gimmicky movie. The cast is also great, with a young Brittany Ashworth and Bradley Cole being the standouts; watching a man's breakdown from the perspective of both he and his daughter was compelling stuff, and the two of them gave weighty performances.  

The finale is what makes this movie so memorable though, as the horrific events that the movie has been slowly building towards unfold in one static take that was tough to watch because it felt so real. And that last shot...

DADDY'S LITTLE GIRL... SHOULD RUN!

No gore, but there is some violence towards the end.

THERE IS A HELLACIOUS TICKLE FIGHT THAT LEAVES EVERYONE EXHAUSTED THOUGH.

No, but the neighbor girl does some sunbathing.

WHAT WAS HER STORY? WE'D LIKE TO KNOW.

Exhibit A is Found Footage done right. It's a very slow burn, and it feels more like a dramatic character study than it does any kind of Horror film through most of its runtime, but there air of impending doom that hangs above the family throughout makes the chilling climax feel all too real.

Definitely worth a watch if you don't need a ton of action or gore gags to entertain/scare you.

B-

Exhibit A is available now on DVD and VOD.

Brittany Ashworth is all grown up now, and we like how she turned out.

Blu-ray Review: Zodiac (2007)

*This review is a re-do of one we did back in 2008. It needed an update.

DID YOU ENJOY YOUR PICNIC OF DEATH?

Basically, Zodiac is a story about how inept Cops were in the 60's and 70's, and how they sucked so bad that they let one of the most infamous Serial Killers in U.S. history pretty much go on killing, and get away with it.

HE'S STILL OUT THERE... WELL, HE'S MOST LIKELY DEAD BY NOW, BUT BACK THEN, HE WAS STILL OUT THERE.

One of the gay cowboys from Brokeback Mountain is working as a cartoonist for the "Reach-around Pass Gazette," when The Zodiac Killer begins his reign of terror. Since the Cops suck at their job, he sets out to catch The Zodiac all on his own, which turns out to be a horrible idea.
 
The Zodiac, on the other hand, seems like he's just a lonely guy who wants someone to talk to. He writes letters to the Police and to newspapers, telling them that all he really wants is a pen pal. He says he'll keep killing until he gets one, and so California is screwed, because pen pals are lame.

I won't ruin the ending for you here, but it involves a burly, bald guy, some random tools and hardware, and a smoky man-look reminiscent of Brokeback Mountain.

BOO! I'M THE ZODIAC! JUST KIDDING... KISS ME.

Here we get the rarest of all things: a great Horror movie, as well as a superbly made film, all in one package. David Fincher has made his finest film to date with Zodiac, and it's truly brilliant in every way. From Robert Downey Jr. acting his ass off yet again, to Jake Gyllenhall making me forget all about gay cowboys, to the pacing, the cinematography, and even the script... this is a top-notch effort, in every way imaginable.

Oh yeah, its creepy as shit too. Especially that damned basement scene...

While we're at it, let's get one thing straight here: Zodiac IS a Horror movie. It involves a Serial Killer that terrorizes an entire city with his murderous ways, and that's definitely Horrific material. All of the ass-necks out there who whine about "It's a drama, Horror has to have like scary stuff in it!" need to shut up and start learning how to understand things better. That is all.

THE "BASEMENT SCENE" IS ONE OF THE SCARIEST THINGS WE'VE EVER SEEN. IT'S PERFECT. 

I'm not sure why he didn't, but Iron Man should have used his suit to fight The Zodiac Killer. He so would have won.

TONY STARK IS A PUSSY IN THIS MOVIE.

Why would you want to kill this cutie pie?

WHAT A WASTE OF A GOOD CUTIE PIE.

Zodiac offers us scenes involving stabbing, shooting, and even one where a baby nearly gets chucked out of a moving car. It's nothing overtly gory, but it's plenty violent and disturbing enough.

Aside from a few scenes of necking and canoodling, there's nothing sexual in this movie.

THE PHONE BOOTH SEX SCENE THAT NEVER WAS...

 

Never go in the fucking basement. Never, ever, fucking ever.

THAT ELUSIVE BASTARD!

A tour de force in film-making, Zodiac is one hell of a creepy thrill ride that absolutely begs to be seen by anyone who loves film, and more importantly (for our interests, anyway), Horror movies. This is a must see film, and at $7, it's also a must own Blu-ray.

 A+

Zodiac is available now on Blu-ray, DVD, and VOD.

Chloe Sevigny is in this, and she's every bit as sexy as The Zodiac Killer is deadly. Maybe even more so.

Guilty Pleasure- The Mad (2007)

Every now and then we come across a movie that we really shouldn't like, but end up loving. Alright, maybe not loving, but liking. Such is the case with the 2007 Canadian Virus/Infected flick, The Mad.

These days, anything starring Billy Zane gives us pause; the guy used to star in some great movies, but seems to have gone the route of starring in any b-movie script that comes his way. We're cool with that. He should work as often as possible and make as much $$$ as he can. He's earned a lifetime of credit with us for his work in Demon Knight alone. If we're being honest though, some of this movies like Leprechaun's Revenge or The Kill Hole don't exactly scream quality to us, you know? The Kill Hole... based on title alone that movie is begging to be reviewed by us.

The Mad is the story of a Father and Daughter being attacked by some infected style zombies, and some evil, organic hamburger patties. You see, the local grown beef is tainted with some crazy virus that makes people go Mad when they eat it. Also, the beef, when in patty form, will latch onto someones face and try to kill them. Sound crazy? Well, it's Canadian, so that goes without saying.

When good hamburger goes bad.

This is a cheesy, goofy, ridiculous horror comedy that spoofs the whole Virus/Infected Zombie genre. It's saved from completely sucking by some good production values, and some fun acting by the cast. Chief amongst them is of course Billy Zane, who turned what should have been an embarrassing role, into one that was fun as all hell. In all fairness, it may still be embarrassing, but you know what, it was still fun.

The hot as Canadian-sin Maggie Castle plays his daughter, and not only is she nice to look at, but she's pretty funny herself. You can catch her on the Canadian TV show Todd and the Book of Pure Evil, which is playing on Fearnet right now! Like right this minute, we think. The equally hot Jordan Madely is in this too, and we've loved her ever since seeing her in 5ive Girls, which oddly enough was another of our guilty pleasures.Maybe it's Canada that is the true guilty pleasure.

We should probably mention Shauna MacDonald next, but instead we're going to give some love to a guy named Rothaford Gray.If you look at his name, it looks as if his parents could have been trend setters and not even known it. These days, you get all kinds of guys running around calling each other Broham or Broseph... a practice which makes us wish that Frat Boys would be banned from society and deemed a danger to society. Well, if you add a "B" to Rothaford's name, you get Brothaford. Saying "What's up, Brothaford?" seems a lot less ginky than the other "Bro" greetings. Why? Because white people suck at sounding cool and making up good slang. You know I'm right. Aside from the cool name, Rothaford was pretty fun in this flick too. Still, it's the name that puts him over the top.

Don't ever call him Brothaford in person. He doesn't like it.

Of course if you don't like cheesy, tongue-in-cheek Canadian humor, then this movie will do nothing for you. It really is all crazy stupid, whether in a fun way or not. So I guess, just beware.

There's plenty of blood and gore all throughout this one; blood sprays, people are bitten, heads are severed, the infected are shot, stabbed and otherwise messily dispatched. It's a humorous flick, but it doesn't go lightly on the messy business.

It's Goreific!

Aside from some implied oral hi-jinks and an older man caught romancing a blow up doll, there's no dirty stuff to be found here. It's a shame, really, because the movie definitely had some potential for hot chick nakedness. At least we got to see Maggie Castle all sweaty and scantily clad... and in pigtails.

She is a sassy misbehaver!

The one with the crazy bouncing head, or, the whole hamburger patty attack sequence. For our money, both are equally rewarding.

That's exactly the reaction we had.

When the mood strikes and we find ourselves in desperate need for some wacky, zany, crazy horror comedy that will make us smile and forget how horrible most other cheap horror flicks are, The Mad is just the type of flick we seek out. Good horror comedies are a true rarity, and this one pretty much delivers the goods. We're not saying it's LOL funny, but it is amusing and goofy enough to earn out affection. Plus, hot Canadian chicks.

As it turns out, Canadian chicks are quite pleasant to look at. Also, the Shauna MacDonald in this movie is not the Shauna MacDonald from The Descent. Who knew there were two of them?