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.
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