THE 68th Edinburgh International Film Festival ran from 18-29 June, 2014.

Film fans were treated to 122 new feature-length films including world, international and European premieres.

Reporter Hamish Hutchinson reviews a selection of the films that were on show.

Zip & Zap and the Marble Gang Directed by Oskar Santos What do you get when you cross The Goonies with Harry Potter? The answer is this bundle of fun.

Based on the long-running and beloved Spanish comic book characters (that date back to the 1940s), Zip & Zap is a refreshing throw-back to a more innocent time – before mobile phones, the internet and those annoying know-it-all teens.

Twin brothers, the imaginatively named title characters, play one prank too many and are sent to a correctional summer boarding school where fun and toys are banned.

Zap (Daniel Cerezo) doesn’t want to play by the rules and feels the wrath of headteacher Falconetti (Javier Gutierrez) – all eye-patch and sneer, like a tweenie Bond villain – which leads to spells in solitary confinement. While there he finds a small bag of marbles and with his brother and a few other misfits – the archetypal podgy one and geek one – they form a gang to wreak havoc in the school.

What begins as a tale of rebellion takes an adventurous turn (with an assortment of ingenious traps and obstacles) when they come across a map to hidden treasure in the school grounds. From there it’s a race against time to find the secret trove before the evil Falconetti.

Director Oskar Santos keeps things light and brisk with an emphasis on fun.

As with the Harry Potter series the strength of the child performances fluctuate but if anything that adds to the enjoyment.

That Guy Dick Miller Directed by Elijah Drenner That Guy Dick Miller is a loving tribute to the character actor, the nearly man, but most of all, Dick Miller.

Those familiar with the work of Joe Dante (Gremlins, The Howling), will know the face but not necessarily the name.

He has starred in hundreds of films, forging his career with prolific B-movie filmmaker Roger Corman, but never matched the success of his peers despite working with the likes of hit directors Steven Spielberg and James Cameron.

Miller makes an interesting documentary subject – he’s as colourful as the characters he’s played.

Director Elijah Drenner charts his life from leaving New York for LA to pursue a career, first as a writer, before falling into acting.

An air of what-might-have-been pervades throughout, most notably when discussing Miller’s cut cameo appearance in Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction - a pained regret of Miller (possibly due to the resurgence of other aging careers thanks to appearances in Tarantino’s work) - and there is a sense that the New Yorker could have achieved greater success had he been that little more pro-active.

At times this feels like a promotional showreel for Miller and segues into ‘making of’ territory when tracing his films.

But these are minor niggles to what is a funny and insightful piece on one of Hollywood’s great character actors.

Doc of the Dead Directed by Alexandre O Philippe Zombies are everywhere nowadays.

They are on the big screen (World War Z), small screen (The Walking Dead) and have even shuffled into classic literature (Pride and Prejudice and Zombies).

Their stamp on popular culture seems ripe for the dissecting by filmmaker Alexandre O Philippe, having plied his trade making documentaries on other cultural phenomena such as Star Wars (The People vs George Lucas) and a certain psychic octopus.

Indeed his last film, Paul the Psychic Octopus, gave a light-hearted look at that tentacled oracle who correctly predicted eight consecutive results in the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

Doc of the Dead follows in a similar vein, mixing talking heads with YouTube fan footage and songs.

An impressive line-up of interviewees include director and godfather of the genre George A Romero (Night of the Living Dead), actor Bruce Campbell (Evil Dead trilogy), author Max Brooks (World War Z), actor Simon Pegg (Shaun of the Dead) and creator of the Walking Dead, Robert Kirkman.

With its tongue firmly planted in its cheek it offers a ‘how to’ guide on surviving a zombie apocalypse, discusses the controversial issue of whether zombies should walk or run, and examines the clichés in faux reconstructions of a zombie attack.

It traces the ‘rise’ of the undead, from their voodoo origins to the Brad Pitt starring adaptation of novel World War Z, and is at its most insightful when discussing the genre’s popularity.

Indeed it says more that no-one, not even those that get their undead on in ‘zombie walks’, can fully explain the attraction – and Romero’s bemusement on being asked the question is a particular highlight.