Lake Mungo
2008
Joel Anderson
Joel Anderson
With the seemingly accidental drowning of sixteen-year-old,
Alice (Talia Zucker), her brother Matthew (Martin Sharpe) and family begin to
experience strange occurrences around their home. The family looks to a parapsychologist
and Matthew sets up cameras to capture whatever is responsible. These clues lead to family to their neighbors,
whom Alice used to work for as a babysitter. With each revelation they realize
that they didn’t know their daughter at all, and this attempt to try and bring
some closure to her death has instead pulled the family into darker and darker
places. It is at the site of her death at Lake Mungo that they will come upon
the chilling finality of Alice’s life.
Lake Mungo is astonishingly good. Presented in the form of a
documentary, it cultivates that sense of realism found footage films often
strive for without falling into the narrative traps those same films
often prey to. Lake Mungo is quiet and deliberate. I had to stay away from any
real spoilers in the plot synopsis and although it sounds like a rote ghost
story set-up, it’s the delivery that is really outstanding. There are no jump
scares or gore, the horror is built upon creeping realization and dread. Most
importantly, the film pays off its unsettling tension and horror in way that is
satisfying and absolutely chilling. This is the kind of film many horror fans
are looking for, something that isn’t flashy or mindless, but instead evokes actual
chills.
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