Lake Mungo (2009)

I gave it a 7.5 out of 10

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

I'm a huge horror fan. The first horror movie I saw was A Nightmare on Elm Street when I was thirteen years old, and since then, I was hooked. It's probably my favorite movie genre, and one of my favorite genres in all forms of entertainment. I feel like I've "seen it all", so to speak, in all the various sub-genres of horror. Mainstream, indie, sci-fi, psychological, monster, black and white classics, found footage, etc. You name it, I've probably seen it. But I've never seen anything quite like Lake Mungo.It's not really the style of the movie, per se, that was so different, because I've seen faux documentary style horror movies before. But the things that happen in this one...it's been a long time since a horror film made me feel this way.When I sat down to watch it, all I knew was the basic plot. A teenage girl drowns, and afterwards her family starts experiencing some strange events. I thought it was going to be your typical haunted house ghost story, but it was so much more than that. The movie sets up this fascinating mystery, with multiple twists and reveals, and it keeps you guessing the entire time. Eventually though, it all leads up to one scene in particular. Basically, the entire movie builds up to this moment, and what happens is so unexpected and horrifying, I couldn't believe it. There were no cheap jump scares here. No "aha! gotcha!" moments. The scene earned every second of the fear it made me feel. I had to force myself not to cover my eyes.This is one of the most tense, uneasy atmospheres I've experienced while watching any movie, not just horror. One of the best slows burns, with a great payoff. I was thinking about this for days after I watched it. Absolutely unforgettable.

I don't consider myself a patient person, and slow movies lose my interest, however, while Lake Mungo was slow, something about it made it hard to look away. Maybe it was being able to relate to the Australian setting (as an Aussie myself), maybe it was my desperation in need of a horror-fix, I can't really pin-point it. It could be the investigative theme of the film, as it doesn't go overboard in it's presented techniques (no super high tech gadgets, government spies, etc), and thus makes it seem real- something achievable by the average person. It begins to feel personal.The final hour-half hour of the film is where everything begins to piece itself together really well. Throughout the film you're constantly asking new questions (eg. "where did that person go"), and the end really makes the build up feel justified. It's a chilling feeling, still, and you might be a little on edge for the remainder of the day after watching Lake Mungo- but if you're a horror fan, this should be your cup of tea. It's not a fast paced, mega-action slasher, but it does give you the subtle feeling of uncertainty and vulnerability, which is admirable.

Jam-packed with one twist after another and never letting its viewers figure out just where exactly its plot is headed, Lake Mungo is one of the most underrated works of mockumentary horror that's cleverly crafted, ingeniously executed and takes a turn on every available opportunity to sustain a sense of uneasiness throughout its runtime.Lake Mungo centres around the Palmer family that is mourning the accidental death of their young daughter after she drowns while swimming at a dam. As the Palmers attempt to move on from the unexpected tragedy that befell them, they experience a set of inexplicable events in their house & eventually unearth a dark secret about their deceased girl.Written & directed by Joel Anderson, Lake Mungo is staged like a documentary, filled with archival footages, family photographs & personal interviews but an aura of mystery surrounding the death & an unsettling vibe in the aftermath sequences is consistently felt throughout its runtime. It is an expertly constructed picture that's palpably tense & soaked in suspense.Anderson's direction is top-notch and the way he manages to keep the viewers invested & unsure of what lies ahead is worthy of praise. The grainy & low-quality of the recorded footage or photos further compels the viewers to observe each frame more closely, and although its documentary style is borrowed, the film tick marks all the elements that make them gripping in the first place.What definitely works in its favour is that it manages to keep the interest alive from start to finish and rarely follows a predictable route, for whenever the audience tries to connect the dots, a new twist surfaces & steers them in a different direction. Editing is brilliantly carried out and the pacing is methodical. Camera is sort of fixated on time-lapse photography while the cast provides added authenticity with their sincere inputs.On an overall scale, Lake Mungo is a highly riveting psychological horror, deeply embedded with supernatural elements, and offers an interesting take on grief plus how people deal with it. Keeping its viewers on the edge of their seats throughout its runtime and managing to be bone-chilling on a few occasions, this Australian chiller is one of the most undervalued gems of its genre, is worthy of your time & money, and requires a much broader attention.

An extremely low budget and low key Australian horror done in the faux-documentary style that has now well and truly worn out its welcome, Lake Mungo is impressive in what it does with limited resources and its ambition is to be commended but a big problem with this now cult film is that it's sadly not very scary.Whilst suitably creepy at times as Lake Mungo wears on towards it's slight 80 minute run time the films initial chilling set-up slowly descends into something that becomes unfortunately tiresome even though the film's final credits scenes provide some unnerving finishing moments.While criticisms can be easily made of Lake Mungo's inability to capitalize on its promising cornerstones director Joel Anderson certainly must be commended for sticking to his low-budget guns and delivering a mock-doc that to the uninitiated may absolutely seem like a legitimate documentary! Using grainy phone footage, good use of talking heads and fake news reports, Anderson crafts a tale that actually feels real even if the story its telling becomes a little far-fetched and lacking. Telling the story of the sad demise of young Alice Palmer in this way allows Anderson to hide the films limitations in ways that don't take away from the films central premise and only some clunky delivery of dialogue really gives Lake Mungo's sleight of hand away.One of the more impressive Australian horrors of recent times (although that's not entirely an amazing feat) and perhaps the best locally made example of a faux documentary yet produced (again not exactly tough competition), Lake Mungo has clearly in the years since its release found an appreciative audience that it failed to find upon initial runs these now many moons ago and you could do a lot worse than making Lake Mungo your horror fix over the slowly dying Paranormal Activity franchise or any other such higher profile wannabe.3 buried cell phones out of 5