Lake Mungo (2008) is an Australian film which brings us a new different take on the found footage genre of horror movies. With it’s documentary/investigative news program format, as opposed to the third person shaky cam, we are presented with the story of a family who has lost a daughter and sister from a terrible drowning accident at their summer lake house. However, as we soon realize, it’s not just a story about a drowning accident, but the story of some very bizarre occurrences following the death of sixteen year old Alice Palmer.
Unlike other paranormal found found footage films, Lake Mungo doesn’t rely on jump scare tactics like it’s counterpart in the genre, Paranormal Activity, but instead it invokes a creepy atmosphere along with a very strong plot line which has a surprising amount of twists. It’s a film that constantly keeps you guessing as to the nature of what the heck is going on. In fact, Lake Mungo has to be the creepiest most interesting found footage film that has absolutely zero jump scares.
As the 60 minutes style interviews progress throughout the movie, the natural and monotonous performance of the Palmer family is highlighted by the sudden appearance of ghostly apparitions of daughter Alice in various pictures and video cameras. As the strange events continue, the family calls upon parapsychologist, Ray Kemeny to help investigate the situation, only to discover that Alice had far more going on in her life than the family had previously thought. And this is where things take a turn for the creepy and bizarre if it wasn’t already.
With the plot twists unfolding and the story becoming more and more strange, one can’t help but feel the hair on the back of your neck stand up with each revealing plot point, each more creepy than the last. Lake Mungo is a hidden gem and a welcome refreshing film to the found footage horror genre that will leave you not only creeped out but thinking about the film long after it has ended.
Zombie Bodhi is the author of the Old Horror Movies blog which reviews and discusses classic horror from the 30s through the 80s.
