Lake Mungo (2008) The Most Hauntingly Real Horror One Of A Kind (Review)

In the incredibly generous extras section of Second Sight’s new release – Lake Mungo, are appreciation videos from Rob Savage (Host) and Justin Benson & Aaron Moorhead (indie mainstays). Both open with the same throughline, they were looking for genuinely scary movies beyond the same cliched selection of classics and among that mix was Joel Anderson’s 2008 film, his only film to date and a true one of a kind. It has only been in the last few years that this lost new Australian classic garnered any sort of status within the horror community, before that it was damned to forever wander in obscurity among a sea of identikit found footage movies – a sub-genre that Anderson’s only fits within by the slimmest of technicalities.

Lake Mungo is a faux documentary that functions much in the same way that a TV true-crime documentary might. The crime in question is of the Palmer family: one day, the parents and two kids (Alice & David) go to a nearby lake to go swimming and have some quality family time. Only, the daughter, Alice (Talia Zucker), doesn’t re-emerge after swimming under the surface. Tragically, the 16-year-old was carried away by the current to her untimely demise. If the family wasn’t traumatised enough, there is a weird aura around the house – the true nature of which is only captured after taking photos and videos that show a ghostly visage very similar to that of Alice. This starts a query by the family to find out the truth about whether there is a ghost, whilst unpacking the final days and of their deceased daughter & sister.

It might not sound scary and in synopsis alone, it isn’t. To all intents and purpose, this is a 90-minute true crime special that edits and pieces together old news footage, talking-head interviews from friends, colleagues, the police and a kindly local medium, as well as the footage and photos shot by the family. But therein is the rub and the power of Lake Mungo, the presentation, tone and completely natural performances are all part of an exercise in making you question whether or not this is real – al a ghost watch or the Blair witch Project. It is in that creative theory that Anderson’s film truly becomes skin-crawling.

There is a combination of factors that make this work: performance, tone, sound and visual effects. Many have remarked about films within the canon of realism that their performances are naturalistic. Naturalistic isn’t natural, there’s a slight divorce that separates it from the real. There is no such separation under Anderson’s direction. As a course in its creation, the film didn’t have a traditional script – just an outline and goals scene by scene. This allows the actor’s free reign to express themselves, each and every one of them talks with candour and intonation that you expect from someone you pass on the street. This doesn’t give Lake Mungo the allure of something purporting to be real, Lake Mungo is real. This is beyond ‘authenticity’. Credit, then, has to go to the actors for being so good and so believable – especially in their grief. That is not an emotional state that is easily feigned, and to render it real as the cast does here, is an incredible achievement from cast and director alike.

Tone, sound and visual effects are all interconnected, so, I’ll talk about them as one. There is a comment made in one of the aforementioned video appreciations with Benson & Moorhead, where they talk about how vital the job of a sound editor is in horror. Before they take up work, many scenes are merely slow zooms in which nothing happens. After they have finished, Lake Mungo earns its reputation as one of the scariest horror movies of the 21st century. David Paterson’s original music is a brand of off-kilter ambient electronics that does just enough to make you feel uneasy without drawing attention to itself. Whether it’s in the gorgeous shots of the night’s sky or the captured footage, that uneasiness is inescapable. Then there’s that footage, because of the graininess and distortion of the cameras used (with that music), the film basically crashes headfirst into the spikiest edges of J-Horror. Specifically, it feels like we have strayed into the making of those obscure videos that kills people in Ring. The skin-crawling dread is exactly the same, only scarier (than one of the scariest movies I have ever seen, no less) because both feet are planted firmly in the real.

If that was all, that would be enough for most movies – and almost predictably it is not the only trick Joel Anderson has up his sleeves. After a few choice revelations, Lake Mungo changes its spots to become a different kind of terror. Effectively, evolving to become a perfect crystallisation of Twin Peaks Fire Walk with Me and Ring only told in the register of a true-crime TV documentary. Like I said, a true one of a kind. The way events unfold, where the Palmer family find out about the secrets of Alice’s final days leave the door open for some chats with the genial medium, Ray. During which, the 16-year-old utters the bloodcurdling line, “something bad has happened to me, it just hasn’t caught up yet”. That and the footage they find on the buried phone in the titular Lake Mungo… well, the hairs on my arms are standing on end just typing this.

As a horror fan, there is nothing like discovering a film that reminds you why you fell in love with the genre, to begin with. And the thing that makes it better? Second Sight has given it a treatment and exhaustive set of extras akin to the titans of horror, akin to the reputation that Lake Mungo deserves. While its style is a “love it” or “don’t get it” deal, the only real thing I can say to conclude is this – it’s genuine crime to cinema that this guy hasn’t made another movie. Talents like this don’t come along too often.

Why is a TV documentary about the one-time Ginger Spice our longest episode ever? Well, when it’s directed by Molly Dineen and it offers a window into the strange media landscape of turn-of-the-millennium Britain, there’s a fair bit to talk about. Graham is joined by Mark Cunliffe from We Are Cult (and The Geek Show, for that matter) to discuss celebrity in the Blair years, Geri Horner (then Halliwell)’s disastrous James Bond audition, her friendship with Prince Charles, the often prescient films of Dineen, “ass-flavoured bubblegum”, Derek and Clive for some reason… there’s a lot, OK.

Thanks for reading Rob’s review of Lake Mungo

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