Lake Mungo

A found-footage horror meshed well with the supernatural but wasn’t able to deliver in the end. This was recommended a lot by found footage horror fans across chat groups and social media platforms. Unfortunately, I didn’t get what all the fuss was about and was happy to know that many felt the same way. Lake Mungo was directed by Joel Anderson (Late Night with the Devil 2023).

The story about a girl who disappeared in a lake. Her body later on was found and cause of death was drowning, but days after the event, certain videos of their daughter’s life surfaced. Including a sexual relationship with their neighbor; consulting with a psychic reader; and another one.

Characters

The characters seemed oblivious to what was happening, either that or as per narrative, it happened quite a while back. Because their expressions wasn’t that of loss, more like a question and answer game. You couldn’t feel for them because they show no facial expressions that would make you feel sorry for their loss. At the very least, I’d say the father showed some proper reaction during the interview. If its any consolation to the cast, they looked great on those home video clips.

Too much of a retro-vibe footage

The quality of the camera footages in Lake Mungo were grainy and I get that they were trying to incorporate that VHS feel of a tape, but it was way too grainy and the lighting was poor to the point where if they didn’t explain what it was, I never would’ve understood what I was looking at.

What I didn’t like about Lake Mungo

There were many elements added to it to raise some questions by the audience of what really happened to Alice, and I could point out two:

• When Mathew Palmer (played by Martin Sharpe) lied about doctoring the film and putting Alice in the background, he wasn’t even able to give an excuse. It was so out of the blue and random with no agenda whatsoever.
• When it was revealed that Alice had a sexual relationship with the neighbor. I mean, it was consensual, she wasn’t r4pe. I guess it was to show that Alice had a secret darker life than what most of her peers know. But still, it wasn’t relevant to the main plot. It didn’t drive the story forward, more like it took a commercial break.

Underwhelming reveal

The supposed big reveal towards the end was very underwhelming. It’s like Final Destination but very tamed. There wasn’t even any context as to how she drowned, no answers came from the autopsy report; the family didn’t ask as to how it happened. The audience and Alice were just told that she would die of drowning. Period.

Conclusion

Directorial-wise, I have many questions as why they decided to do what they did. Most of it killed the suspense. I get that they were trying to incorporate the “realness” of the situation.

I guess the only thing I liked was the ending. When they showed a family portrait of the current members before they moved away. In the background, by the window, you’d see Alice looking at their direction. Implying that the family decided to move on, and Alice was there, her spirit trapped and forever chained to that house.

I honestly expected more from Lake Mungo because of how much people praised this one. There wasn’t anything scary about this one. I’d rather they didn’t incorporate any supernatural element into this, sort of killed the suspense of it, much like how I felt with The Black Phone (2021). If you want a found-footage horror around that same year, I’d recommend The Poughkeepsie Tapes (2007).

It’s not everyone’s cup of tea (certainly not mine), if you’re looking for action/terror, this is certainly not it. If you’re into slow burn existential horror, Lake Mungo is the one for you.