8 Enter, only 1 leaves, it's the wrestling event of the academic diary.

Exam is an independent English film whose biggest stars are Jimi Mistry and Colin Salmon.
Wait, why are you leaving, don't go.
Alright, so, the premise is 8 people have made it through some tough challenges to win a high powered job in a firm that deals with a virus afflicting most people, I won't go into the rest, most of the film is exposition for it, and they sit in a room, are given a set of rules, then turn over their test papers, 80 minutes on the clock. It's blank.

They begin to talk to each other, discuss what is going on, one early on rightly claims it to be "a big mindfuck", and then we have a mix of exposition on the company and the characters' reasons for being there, and attempts to find out the question on the paper, through UV lights, water, glass. Eventually of course, two people are tied up and civilisation comes crashing down before it. And there's still 20 minutes to go.

The film moves at a hectic pace and keeps you interested, unsure how it'll work on second viewing, but it's tense, well made and interesting, the characters illicit reactions from you and you're engaged wholeheartedly with the piece. The biggest problem is when the exam is over, the long 15 minutes of revelations about the exam, the people behind it, et. all, ruining the mystery with line after line and flashback after flashback, it's a shame that some of the mystery could have been saved, given to us as thoughts we can put together, not treating us like imbeciles after a smart opening hour and change.

However, that said,t he majority is superb, strong acting talent, well crafted ideas, a wonderful set and the film looks fantastic, if that ending wasn't so annoying, I'd give this higher marks, but as a first feature, Stuart Hazeldine still knocks it out of the park, cracking work.
8/10