4 out of 5

Directed by: Joel Anderson

To qualify the rating some, there is the actual effectiveness of Lake Mungo as a psychological horror film, and there’s the quality of Mungo as an entry in the faux-documentary /found footage-style subgenre.

The former is very variable. Allowing that “scares” are obviously both culturally and personally subjective, the particular subject matter of Lake Mungo is more or less effective depending on how certain things affect you – your feelings on death; your feelings on loss of those close to you. If you’re not sensitive to those topics (and I use that term without judgment), Lake Mungo is moreso boiled down to some of its jump scares or visuals, and those are good, but not in a real lasting way beyond their moments in the movie. However, if those topics do tickle your fear or nervousness sensors, it is absolutely justified in considering Mungo as one of the scariest found footage entries of all time, due to the second qualifier I mentioned:

How well produced this movie is in terms of presentation. Very simply: even if you’ve spotted some of these actors elsewhere, the performances they offer / encouraged by director Joel Anderson, and the spot-on design of the camera work (a blend of “home videos” and “documentary” footage on the topic) betrays 0% artifice. I have never seen a more convincing document in this vein of stories, and we have so many to choose from; even by the time of Lake Mungo’s release (2008), but a billion more in the years hence. And even with that wealth of comparisons, and obviously knowing the contents as fake, I marveled at how accurate the material felt – how the actors picked up on little tics and glances that didn’t feel performative. Like even real documentaries show their hand by forcing certain emotions via music or edits, while Anderson (and the whole team – composer Dai Peterson; editor Bill Murphy; d.p. John Brawley) labor to present this all as organically as possible, down to the story reveals not feeling cheap or deflating. Furthermore, there’s a strong thematic layer that adds further resonance to what we witness (or don’t).This is all an amazing structural achievement, and allows the film to hold up far beyond its more direct intentions as a spook piece.

But, yeah, back to that, a dispassionate (or experienced found footage) viewer will find things in the frame to maybe disrupt the movie’s intended flow, or more generally, just won’t be too bothered by the concepts – though, again, the execution of some jumps and the unnerving vibe of the documentary footage or excellent.

The story: the Palmers’ 16-year old daughter disappeared. The family is out swimming, then, suddenly, they can’t find Alice (Talia Zucker). Days later, her body is found, and identified by her father, Russell (David Pledger). As time ticks on, strange noises in the family’s home encourage Alice’s brother, Mathew (Martin Sharpe), to set up some cameras recording the home at night, while matriarch June (Rosie Traynor) reaches out to a psychic. Signs – including those captured on camera – begin to point to Alice still being present, in some form or another, and as the family dig more into things, the more mysteries they find surrounding Alice’s life up to her initial disappearance…

If the topics mentioned above tend to unnerve you, buckle in for an incredibly effective exploration in that realm – but, it should be said, one that is explorative, and not necessarily out to just disturb. Though that doesn’t mean it can’t leave some lingering feelings. But even if all that is just meh for you, if you’re a fan of the genre (or even just well told ghost stories), Lake Mungo is absolutely worth your time as a masterclass of presentation.