Review: Horrorfest 10 – LAKE MUNGO

THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT and PARANORMAL ACTIVITY are the two most successful ‘mock documentary’ horror films but those were alleged as ‘found footage’ and much of the horror derived from the literal point-of-view of its principals and the mystery of what happened to them. The new Australian ‘faux-doc’ LAKE MUNGO from writer/director Joel Anderson is presented as a full-blown investigative-style documentary about a family grieving the drowning death of their teenage daughter and their belief that her ghost has returned to haunt them. Spooky and original (and of course slated for a Hollywood remake), the horrors in LAKE MUNGO are so subtle that they’re barely there, and the film is more powerful for it.

Using different types of film stock and videotape to depict ‘real’ footage, LAKE MUNGO considers the case of 16-year-old Alice Palmer (Talia Zucker). Alice is a smart and attractive girl from a loving, well-off family who one day, while swimming with her younger brother Mathew (Martin Sharpe), mysteriously drowns at a local lake.   Her parents (David Pledger and Rosie Traynor) and friends recall what happened in the days between Alice’s death and the ultimate retrieval of her body. Alice’s body, swollen and grotesque from days in the water, is found and identified but her family still has troubles with closure especially after her ghostly image starts to show up in the family’s photographs and videos. Much of LAKE MUNGO is comprised of these images while her grieving family talks at length about them and about her. The photos are zoomed into until they become a grainy blur. The videos are repeated again and again in slow motion. A shape is possibly Alice’s ghost. Or is it? The camera’s eye draws the viewer in deeper and deeper with an increasing feeling of dread. Alice is indeed in these images, but just barely. Filmmaker Anderson wisely recognizes the advantage of restraint, trusting that what you don’t see—the power of the unknown—is far more lingering and frightening than what you do.

There are no loud noises in LAKE MUNGO. No sudden jumps, no screaming, no blood. In terms of plot LAKE MUNGO offers nothing new. It’s a typical ‘restless spirit haunting a house’ story but its unique presentation makes it effective. The creep factor comes from assuming that what you’re watching is, in fact, true and that the homemade videos are all legitimate, lending the film an air of reality that helps build the suspense. LAKE MUNGO goes in some directions I wasn’t expecting it to, not all successful. A plot turn involving a sex tape featuring Alice and an older neighbor seemed like unnecessary filler. I also think it was a mistake accentuating certain moments with scary horror movie music. The movie didn’t need it and it only served to remind me that I was actually watching a narrative. Not everyone will like LAKE MUNGO. If you don’t buy into the documentary concept at least a little bit, then LAKE MUNGO will leave you as cold as BLAIR WITCH did for people who didn’t go along for the ride with that film. However if you let it get in your head, I think you’ll find that LAKE MUNGO is even more effective at getting under your skin and causing some anxiety after you switch off the last light and go to bed.