Andrew's Lake Mungo Review-Type Thing

I was woken up at around 1 am by Jes, who brought me home a Belgian waffle with strawberries and whipped cream and informed me that we were going to watch Lake Mungo and I was "going to have to write a review, damn it!". This is that review. Bear in mind the whole being woken thing while reading.

So Lake Mungo is one of these great little horror movies that have been coming out of Australia recently. It's a faux documentary that focuses on the paranormal events surrounding the sudden death of a teenage girl.

I feel that, before I go reviewing this movie, I should mention I have NO theatrical training or very much knowledge of the actual behind-the-scenes workings of movies. If you want a review that delves into the use of camera angles and filters, or you're expecting me to talk about the quality of the direction or set-dressing, you had better just wander over to Jessica's review. She's the one that knows that kind of stuff; I am the uniformed layman's reviewer.

Anyways, back to the movie. Lake Mungo really is much more of a "realistic" scenario than any other horror movie I've ever seen. Much of the film, while seeming to deal with paranormal phenomena, is actually a deep look into the way people deal with the tragedy of losing a loved one. There are many truly eerie images in the film, but I believe that the most effective part of Lake Mungo is the the way it draws you in and makes you forget that you aren't watching a real documentary. It FEELS real.

That said, reality can be boring, and Lake Mungo falls down a bit in it's pacing. If you want cheap scares or explosions, this is not your film. The entire movie is either spoken to the person making the "documentary", in the style of most real documentaries I've seen, or made up of found footage and photographs. The overall feel is almost always more eerie than scary, except for, possibly, the climax. The eeriness really does wear thin, though; thankfully, the story is so interesting that you shouldn't have a problem sticking with it. Again, don't go into this expecting more than an intensely psychological look at the trauma of loss, and don't expect things to unfold very rapidly.

Finally, without spoiling it, I feel I need to address, very briefly, the climax. This is an extremely interesting piece of video found late in the movie, and it brings up THE most fascinating paranormal and existential questions of anything in the entire film. However, not much time is devoted to the exploration of this piece of footage, and I feel that, where the film could have become absolutely incredible, it settles for being great and perhaps a bit overlong.

Four Stars. Definite must see for anyone interested in the more psychological side of spooky.

Jes on Lake Mungo

   Okay, so I have no idea how  to review this without making it ONE GIANT SPOILER!!!!
   I'll try really hard not to do that, but PLEASE bear in mind this is my first movie review, like, ever.
   We decided on reviewing Lake Mungo because our friend, Courtney, was over and had never seen it. We had already seen it once and I don't know about Andy, but it is certainly one of MY favorites of all time.
    Lake Mungo is done in a documentary style. No, not like Blair Witch. Like a DOCUMENTARY. A good one. Without horrible re-enactments to ruin the whole thing. All of the action in Lake Mungo comes from interviews with the characters, news footage, camera footage, and cell phone footage. There is very, very little shaky cam, so PLEASE don't let that deter you.
   What we have here, is the story of the Palmer family.

Hi! We're the Palmer family!

   The daughter of the family, Alice, drowned while out swimming with the fam.
   This is Alice. . .

Hi! I'm Alice!

      I think she is pretty.
     Anyway, shortly after her death, this guy takes a picture of the area where her body was found, and you can just barely see this figure in the background. It certainly looks like Alice to the Palmer family.
   Alice starts showing up in photographs and videos that her brother, Matthew, takes. That's all well and good right up until. . .
                                        HUGE SPOILER ALERT!!!!

we find out that Matthew has faked the footage. All of it. And that's about when the movie starts really rolling.
   I really don't want to ruin this for you guys, so I am just going to shut up now.
   PLEASE see this movie. It's not just another "ghost" movie. It's not. I promise. You walk away from it feeling all sad and pondering.
   "Well, I don't WANT to be sad and pondering! I wanna be scared!" some of you are saying.
   Okay, so there is ONE scare. In the entire movie. But it's not a cheap jump scare or anything like that. It is truly horrifying. The first time I saw it, I was all. . .

  

Seriously, guys. SEE THIS MOVIE!!!


4 1/2 stars (-1/2 star, 'cause I don't get the point of the sex tape stuff. Maybe Andy gets it and can fill you in.)

Hello, From Jes.

Hey out there! This blog was a long time coming. Back in the days of VHS rentals in the horror section of the local video store, my boyfriend, Andy, and I decided we were going to write a book. A book of horror movie reviews by two people who didn't know a lot about movies, but totally knew that they LOVED horror. We started at A and worked our way through. . . oh, I'd say about C before we realized that we did not have the budget to continue renting movies every night. And if we only rented once a week, we'd NEVER have enough material for a book. Fast forward about ten years and the advent of Video On Demand. OMG! ALL THOSE HORROR MOVIES! Just WAITING to be reviewed! So call this attempt two at becoming horror reviewers. Hope ya like the blog! When I am done making this giant pot of pasta, I'm gonna drag Andy out of bed, and we will be watching/reviewing the first of what will hopefully be MANY horror movies. I am so excite!