Exam

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Stuart Hazeldine directs. Tim Wooster behind the camera. Stephen Barton scores. Mark Talbot-Butler cuts. A commercial under-performer on release. Produced in United Kingdom. Dialogue in Cantonese, English, French.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

• 1Shot for just $0.6M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.
• 2Earned back only 66% of its budget on initial theatrical — a commercial disappointment on release.
• 3Released 17 years ago.
• 4Dialogue crosses 3 languages: Cantonese, English, French.
• 5Directed by Stuart Hazeldine, shot by Tim Wooster. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
• 6Original score by Stephen Barton. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
• 7Editor Mark Talbot-Butler shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
• 8Luke Mably and Chukwudi Iwuji and Adar Beck carry the top of the cast.
• 9Marketing tagline: "How far would you go to win the ultimate job?".
• 10IMDB entry: tt1258197 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
• 11Classified under 25 themes, including "gun", "riddle", "room", "guard".
• 12Released under 10 different titles around the world.

The technical file

Cinematography

Tim Wooster

Original score

Stephen Barton

Editing

Mark Talbot-Butler

Production design

Patrick Bill

Costume design

Rebecca Gore

Makeup / hair

Monica MacDonald

VFX supervisor

Russ Wharton

Sound

Chris Treble

Runtime

101 min · 1h 41m

Aspect ratio (typical)

1.37:1 (Academy)

Status

Released

Budget

$600,000

Box office

$394,717

Return

66% of budget

Original language

EN

Certification (US)

NR

IMDB

Exam (2009) ↗

Rotten Tomatoes

61% 🍅 Fresh

IMDB rating

6.7/10 · 133,894 votes

MPAA

Not Rated

Also by

Stuart Hazeldine

• 
  The Shack

  2017 · ★ 7.5
• 
  Christian

  2004 · ★ 7.0

Stills · wallpapers

Selected frames

Full-resolution frames — open one to save it as a wallpaper.

Wallpaper Wallpaper Wallpaper

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

• 

  ▶
  🎥 EXAM (2009) | Full Movie Trailer in HD | 1080p

  Trailer

Community reviews

What people are saying

• Andres Gomez2012-10-29
  ★ 4.5/10

  Exam is an entertaining movie about a stressful situation in a selection process. It could have been more interesting wouldn't it have been because it is deeply inspired in the original play El mètode Grönholm by Jordi Galceran and its following movie El método, by Marcelo Piñeyro, which are both much better.

  Read full review ↓
• Austin Singleton2016-08-11

  A fun one-room mystery that keeps you entertained throughout. Read my full review here. http://www.hweird1reviews.com/allreviews/exam-review

  Read full review ↓
• Jack2020-06-09
  ★ 7/10

  Just finished watching this film without knowing anything about it beforehand. Its references to a pandemic somehow made it much more relevant to watch right now than it would have been back in the day when the film is released. Somehow I expected a better, more clever ending to the film but it lacked that element. However, it was a good watch overall. Would I watch it again? Probably not. Would I make my friends watch it? Yes.

  Read full review ↓

Production companies

Who made it

• 

  Bedlam Productions

  GB

• HA

  Hazeldine Films

  GB

Key crew

• ScreenstorySimon Garrity
• Art DirectionJason Lee Etienne
• CastingEmma Style
• Production DesignPatrick Bill
• EditorMark Talbot-Butler
• Costume DesignRebecca Gore
• Camera OperatorSean Connor
• Visual Effects SupervisorRuss Wharton
• Visual Effects ProducerTim Baxter
• HairstylistMonica MacDonald
• Costume SupervisorCorinne Bibby
• Makeup ArtistMonica MacDonald
• Camera OperatorJohn Attwell
• Supervising Sound EditorJack Gillies
• Sound Re-Recording MixerChris Treble
• Script SupervisorMarzenna Hiles
• Digital IntermediateÉlodie Ichter
• Digital IntermediateMarcus Alexander
• Script SupervisorRowena Ladbury
• Camera OperatorLeo Yılmaz

Themes & keywords

What it's about, really

• gun
• riddle
• room
• guard
• suspicion
• final exam
• exam
• intelligence test
• pill
• psychologist
• disease
• interrogation
• security guard
• gunshot
• timer
• survival horror
• healing power
• candidate
• narcissist
• corporation
• pandemic
• rules
• job
• final stage
• tests

Release history · US

When it landed

• Theatrical2009-06-19NR

Also known as

International titles

• Exetasi mehri thanatouGR
• IspitHR
• VizsgaHU
• EgzaminPL
• TestPL
• ЭкзаменRU
• SınavTR
• ExamenES
• ЕкзаменUA
• 이그잼KR