Author: Joel Fisher

After the success of Rob Hill’s Bad Movie Bible comes his follow up for all those infatuated with a certain subgenre of cinema. However, this time Hill’s latest book seems a little more mainstream – at least at first glance. The A to Z of Superhero Movies: From Abar to ZsaZsa, as its title suggests, is a book for all those interested in superheroes but want to find something a little more unconventional.

There are, of course, all the expected entries from Ant-man to Wonder Woman and for those who do want to read about Hill’s thoughts on the best, biggest and brightest then they can indulge. However, Hill’s research and clear love for the genre from the most popular to the most obscure and unknown is clearly laid out and no stone goes unturned as Hill has committed to paper every single superhero he can find.

So, while you’re looking up every single Batman film, both animated and live action (I know I did) to make sure they are there, you may find yourself distracted by Filipino Batman (copyright be damned) and Thelma, the Norwegian arthouse horror about a religious girl who gets psychokinetic powers. This truly is a thorough and well thought out analysis of the superhero movie genre and what it even means to be a hero.

Hill seems to know his audience all too well and is probably very much like them, so he knows exactly what to expect. Therefore, his book starts with a few disclaimers to try and lessen the many, many e-mails and tweets he may receive that would aim to correct his hard work. The definition of a superhero is clearly defined (to the standard that Hill defines them) and it is also clearly stated that the book, however big and heavy it feels, has only one thousand movie entries.

So, hopefully that will clear up any questions that those even better versed than him may want answered. He also talks about the movies that will and will not be included (with particular note to motion comics) and then the book is left to the reader to explore.

After the extensive guide through the numerous superhero movies, Hill gives a section of statistics to quench the thirst of those who still want to know more and to impress their friends (internet or otherwise) on the extent of their knowledge. There are even statistics on the demographics of superhero characters from different genders, ethnicities and sexualities. Although I did notice there were no statistics on the ages of superheroes (or at least the actors playing them) nor were there any on characters with disabilities.

The A to Z of Superhero Movies: From Abar to ZsaZsa is filled with everything anyone would want to know about the genre, and even some things that they never even considered. Hill has not only compiled a definitive guide through movie history on the genre, but also brings a lot of humour with his short, witty reviews of many of the movies he has seen.

If I were to make any criticism though, it would be that the pictures in the book are in black and white and for what is known to either be a bright and colourful and highly cinematic genre then this takes a little away from the overall aesthetic. However, this is a minor concern and just to see posters and stills from the most unusual of the book’s entries is pleasing enough to show exactly how strange and diverse superheroes can actually be.

The A to Z of Superheroes is a perfect gift for any time of year, and for those looking to expand their movie knowledge in places they never knew it needed to be expanded, Hill’s detailed research pays off as the gift that readers will come back to again and again.

The Lost Footage of Leah Sullivan is, as the title suggests, a found footage slow burn horror movie and the feature debut of writer/director Burt Grinstead. Suggesting that the following will be an unedited account of a student doing a school project, the movie follows said student, Leah Sullivan (Anna Stromberg), as she investigates a cold case of a family that were massacred.

As Leah investigates further, interviewing various members of her community (including her own mother), Leah starts to get deep into what went on around the time of the murders and gets ever closer to revealing the truth.

Found footage horror movies have a difficult history. For every Blair Witch Project you get, well you get 2016’s Blair Witch remake which failed to capture the horror of the original by its overuse of first person camera footage that relied on actors running around, breathing heavily and trying to sound scared. Instead, The Lost Footage of Leah Sullivan takes a different approach as it follows Leah making her documentary about the notorious killings that have always haunted her hometown.

The story plays out through a series of interviews where Leah meets a few people who talk about what they remember about the incident and this is where the strength of the movie lies. Rather than contrived dialogue that furthers the plot, it seems as if there is more of an improvisational style to the interviews and this puts the audience at ease. Through these interactions it shows a relaxed style where the characters really come out, making them often relatable, funny and occasionally sinister.

However, for as much fun that these interviews are and the chemistry between Leah and police officer Patrick Rooke (Burt Grinstead), it feels like there was perhaps a little too much emphasis on the characters and a little less on building the tension for the scares. As The Lost Footage of Leah Sullivan reaches its climactic final act, all the build up feels a little unearned as the movie disregards all of the previous events, giving the audience the found footage horror movie they may have wanted from the start.

Tropes fly thick and fast (dropped cameras, fleeting glimpses of the terror by flashlight and even the question of why Leah is still filming at all) and it feels like the movie loses its nerve. Most found footage horror movies feel like they’re either terror inducing first person scream-a-thons or slow burn, atmospheric movies that send a shiver down your spine. Unfortunately, it’s the latter that I feel the movie fails to deliver.

For all its moments of humour, dialogue that never overexplains the plot and the occasional jump scare, The Lost Footage of Leah Sullivan could have benefitted from a few more glimpses of things out of the corner of your eye that would raise the tension tenfold.

Jenny (Elissa Dowling) is overworked, underappreciated and underpaid. The only bit of joy she gets from being at work is getting to talk to Auto (Jeff J. Knight) her only friend in her boring nine to five. Auto is always there for her when she needs a friend, is interested in her true passion of becoming a singer and gives good back rubs.

Auto is also the only robot working with Jenny and when his creator, Alan (Parry Shen) pays a visit to the workplace, it seems that Auto’s usefulness may not be required by the company any more. Plainly put, Alan is looking to terminate Auto’s employment and his life and due to a dark past that Auto has never really got over, he feels that now is the right time to fight back.

Automation is the feature debut from director Garo Setian. Starting out as a light hearted, unconventional Christmas movie, Automation turns into something quite different about half way through and it isn’t entirely clear which type of movie it wants to be.

Once Auto’s programming malfunctions, the movie turns into horror which may put off or delight its audience as the tonal shift is quite heavy and despite the dark humour that has come before, with the way Auto is treated and the observations about workplace relations, some people may not be expecting how dark the film actually gets.

Starting out with themes reminiscent of Robocop and Short Circuit, the second half of the film ends up paying more of a debt to Terminator and Predator which shows just how drastically the film changes. Where the film may pick up another kind of audience, it loses another as the heart of the movie is all but forgotten and that is a problem as it makes it unclear which audience it is really targeting. Dowling does her best when working against what is basically a faceless actor in a low budget robot costume, but like most of the cast her characterisation is never really fleshed out enough to feel either hope for her survival or for the audience to want to see her gone.

There are other characters that make up Jenny’s colleagues in the workplace, but again their backstories are skimmed over so that when Auto does eventually go on a rampage, the audience is never given the chance to feel anything for them either and that’s a shame.

It could at least have given the script a chance to say something about working in an office or make them feel something for when they die, but it just seems like they were set up just to be cannon fodder. Although this may be best suited for a horror movie, as I said earlier, it’s not entirely clear that this is what the audience would have been getting.

I will say though that I liked the kitchy, low budget look of Auto and the clear indication that it is merely an actor in a suit does take the edge of a little when the audience needs to empathise towards the robot fighting for his life.

Also, for all its faults Knight does a pretty good job going from kind hearted robot with a soul to a murderous killbot. It’s just a shame that the final product doesn’t go from dramatic, unusual romantic drama to slasher horror just as seamlessly.

Dunya’s Day: Review. Dunya (Sara Balghonaim) is looking forward to the biggest day and the biggest party of her life – her graduation. The venue is ready, the guests have been invited and the household help are, missing.

Realising she is all alone on her big day, Dunya thinks that it’s all over for her and the appearances that she likes to keep up will be shattered once the word gets around that her party was a total disaster.

Luckily, two of Dunya’s friends, Deema (Rahaf) and Dalal (Sarah Altaweel) arrive much earlier than expected and upon hearing the news of Dunya’s failing party, they are more than happy to help. It also helps that Dunya is quite a forceful woman and whether they are her friends or not, they are now the help.

Dunya’s Day is a short film from Saudi Arabia and is the debut of writer and director, Raed Alsemari. Throughout the short running time, the story is told neatly and is edited cleverly to show a passing of time punctuated by sharp cuts, even going from night to day. The frantic comedy between the trio of women manages to get in some big laughs in such a short space of time. Also, whether you feel sorry for Dunya or whether you believe that she is getting everything she deserves, Balghonaim’s performance makes Dunya into a character who is more than just the wealthy debutante that the audience is led to believe.

Dunya is shown to not only be fiercely bossy but also desperate for attention and in one particular scene perhaps a little insecure, and it’s thanks to Balghonaim’s performance and not being afraid of looking foolish that sells Dunya as a character, warts and all.

The humour is fast paced, quick witted and one particular scene with a sheep will make the audience laugh out loud at the bleakness of its humour, also dispelling any preconceptions they had about the characters at the start of the film. As Dunya’s Day goes on, the audience may even feel a little empathy towards Dunya’s situation as it becomes strangely relatable.

Whether you’re a rich socialite or just a child whose party has gone so terribly wrong, surely nobody can blame Dunya for wanting her party to be everything she ever wanted.