| Title | The golden age of horror: Lake Mungo (2008) |
| Author | Chris Hornbostel and Bill Cunningham |
| Posted in | Features |
| When | October 17, 2014 |
Bill: Most ghostly tales employ themes of vengeance or just plain malevolence when trying to explain the reason for the hauntings that occur. Lake Mungo derives its impact almost entirely from its use of loss and grief as the source of any supernatural goings on..
Read the full articleFor me, the thing that separates a good film from a great one is how long it sticks with me after I've seen it. And Lake Mungo stuck with me a good long time. I liked so much about this movie, but I think the characters really sold it. Just an average family that didn't invite or deserve tragedy but must endure it anyway. I liked that the teen son's acting out with the ghost fakery seems like something a young man trying to process the loss of a family member might do, while also setting us up for the reveal of the actual ghost. I loved the jump scare, and I would call it that, for its release from the mounting dread from the outback camping trip. One of the best ghost stories I've ever seen.
I haven't been able to re-watch this movie this week, but when I saw it the first time a couple years ago, it was immediately one of my favorite movies in recent history.
One thing I'll note: I recall that the neighbors/sex storyline did seem somewhat out of place, in part because it seemed like it was pushing the movie in a different direction. However, upon later review, thematically, I think it does fit in with the film.
The film is about a teenager dealing with existential questions. Questions which include not just "why are we here", but "who am I?" For all teenagers, but ESPECIALLY for girls (as a result of media representations and whatnot), sexuality becomes a big part of self-identity. So, her explorations would feel less realistic without some addressing of sexuality. (This itself may be influenced by a gendered perspective, as this mostly escaped me but was very obvious to my lovely wife).
Even within that context, I think that the "weird sex" part of it is also necessary. It reinforces the themes of loneliness by establishing that she was searching for connections in any relationship that might offer them, even potentially exploitative or socially unacceptable ones.
What an awesome, low key, genre-hopping Aussie movie. One of the best things about it is that it goes against the grain of the usual arthouse/cultural critique drivel that Australian cinema comes up with.
The actors are all nobodies in Australia, none are known actors, which adds to the believability. However, dad was the only one who was slightly forced, or perhaps slightly overacted.
The best scene was the reveal of the actual ghost in the faked ghost pictures. Clever, effective and understated. Just like the rest of the movie in fact.
Chris, I think you nailed it when you spoke about our fears of loneliness in life. Loneliness, loss, sadness. This is a fantastic example of what great horror movies can do. It's just a fantastic film. And that cell phone footage...scariest, most lasting image I've ever seen in film. That image haunted my nightmares for weeks.
Well. Excuse my language but: god fucking damn it.
Firstly, thanks for this exchange. My girlfriend and I have just finished watching Lake Mungo. We enjoyed it but were left with one nagging question: what was so significant about what they found buried in the sand? In the bag were some valuables and her phone which didn't show an awful lot. The film finished and we came here to see what you guys had to say. Then we read this:
"The cell phone footage creeped me the heck out when I first saw it. It’s a subtle moment without any fireworks to announce its arrival. It sort of just appears out of nowhere, and the explanation that comes
immediately afterwards uses a gruesome comparison photo that features Alice’s corpse. It’s a great “gotcha” moment that lingers still as one of the better scares from the series of films covered thus far."
Okay, I have no idea what Bill is talking about... "Me neither" My girlfriend said.
So we loaded the film up again -- this time on my PC instead of the PS3 (which we usually watch things on) -- and skipped to the Lake Mungo scene where they investigate the phone. It transpires that the PS3 skipped arguably THE MOST IMPORTANT MOMENT IN THE FILM (on Halloween!!). So to repeat: god fucking damn it.
What we originally saw was the first few seconds of the phone footage showing some desert floor and perhaps a shrub, then it cut to them in the plane flying away from Lake Mungo. The cut didn't seem suspect, at least, it didn't jolt or skip in any way. In the backs of our heads we were a little 'wtf? Is that all there is on the phone?'
But watching that scene over (and seeing the second frame you've posted above that I didn't recall seeing): holy shit. Even 'out of context' it gave us the willies (and made me jump) so I'm really sad and angry and disappointed that the motherfucking PS3 skipped it all first time round. I feel like it's diminished the overall effect of the film, although I can't deny there was something terrifying about watching that scene reveal more of itself than we thought was originally there. It was like watching some forbidden or secret footage.
So yeah, aside from these chats being really insightful, this particular one pretty much saved the film for us. So thank you!
That both sucks that the first time you watched that key and important moment got skipped...but I totally get what you're saying about finding it later on. It's almost like you had your own version of the reveals made in the photos before the end of the movie.
