Movie Review: ‘The Lost Footage of Leah Sullivan’ Should Stay Lost

November 22, 2019

Written by Kelli Marchman McNeely

Kelli Marchman McNeely is the owner of HorrorFuel.com. She is an Executive Producer of "13 Slays Till Christmas" which is out on Digital and DVD and now streaming on Tubi. She has several other films in the works. Kelli is an animal lover and a true horror addict since the age of 9 when she saw Friday the 13th. Email: horrorfuelinfo@gmail.com

A young woman sets out to make a documentary for school about a hometown murder. As the mystery unravels, Leah Sullivan, with the help of a local cop, begins to believe that something even more sinister happed to the slain family. She must ask herself, just how a rash of missing people is connected.

This movie is the perfect example of found footage gone wrong. Ninty-five percent of the footage is bouncing, swaying, and fast-moving, it actually left me nauseous. What’s worse is that the last few minutes are filmed in pitch black with a single small-beam flashlight lighting the way making it nearly impossible to see anything.

In between the action, we see what would have been cut if she had edited her documentary. Those scenes came across forced, fake, and over the top.

The cop character, played by Burt Grinstead, is a bit unbelievable. Not many cops would break law after law after law for a stranger.

The only positive thing I can say about this movie is that the staged murder scene photos from the dead family’s files look great. If half as much energy was put into the rest of the film it might have been decent.

The film felt like it was trying to go in too many different directions. At moments it came across as a mystery, paranormal, slasher. I can’t help but wonder if having three directors  (Bert Grinstead, Paul Grinstead, Anna Stromberg) may have caused some of that.

The Lost Footage of Leah Sullivan had so much potential, but in the end, it just falls flat. The only appropriate score I can give the film is a one out of five.

 

Share This Article

You May Also Like…