Lake Mungo

Well the movie itself has some flaws. It has some parts that is really unnecessary. But the allover story is really interesting.

It is one of the slowest horror/mystery movies I've seen, but i think that it benefits from it. The scares are mostly...not really scares, but they will get you goosebumps for sure. But you really have to stay the entire movie to get the entire thing. The end is what made it for me. People are comparing it to paranormal activity, and I get that, but the matter a fact is that these two movies are not very similar, the only thing really is that they use some home movie style footage.

Anyway, its a good movie if you like slow movies, and good scares. But its no movie theater material.

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.

As a fan of psychological horror films, I'm so glad to have stumbled across this little gem in my local rental store. The movie pulls you in, to the point where I did a google search to double check that it wasn't a real documentary. It helps a great deal that there are no big name actors, or over-the-top special effects. Alice's family and friends really come across as people who are not only struggling to get past their loss, but aren't sure how, or even if it's okay to. The flat affect of her parents, particularly,reminded me of real people I've encountered while working in a hospital, who are, in a lot of ways, still in shock long after the loss itself. If you like your horror exclusively blood and gore, or need big Hollywood special effects to enjoy a movie, you will undoubtedly be disappointed, but for anyone who appreciates films that slowly get under your skin, and stay with you long after the end credits, Lake Mungo is a must-see.

"Lake Mungo" is an Australian film that is part horror and part mystery...with a stronger emphasis on the mystery aspect to the story. It begins with the Palmer family on an outing and their daughter, Alice, drowning in the reservoir. What follows is the family trying to make sense of this death and as they go through Alice's things, they begin to realize that there's far more to the story than simply her dying. She certainly was NOT a normal teen and I'll leave it to you to see how and why.

If you are looking to be scared, I doubt if this film will do it for you. But instead of cheap scares, the film manages to be both creepy and unique. Using a fake documentary look and style, it certainly is unique and keeps your 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