Directed by Joel Anderson
After 16-year-old Alice Palmer drowns at a local dam, her family experiences a series of strange, inexplicable events centered in and around their home. Unsettled, the Palmers seek the help of a psychic and parapsychologist, who discovers that Alice led a secret, double life. At Lake Mungo, Alice's secret past emerges.
Lago Mungo, Озеро Мунго, レイク・マンゴー ～アリス・パーマーの最期の３日間～, Mungo Gölü, Jezero Mungo, אגם מונגו, Mungo-tó, 蒙哥湖, O Segredo do Lago Mungo, 먼고 호수, Hồ Mungo, Езерото Мънго, بحيرة مونغو
AustraliaM Sydney Film Festival 
Netherlands16 Imagine Film Festival 
PortugalM/14 MOTELX - Lisbon International Horror Film Festival 
Sweden15 Lund Fantastisk Film Festival 
USA After Dark Horrorfest Australia 4k Restoration - Melbourne International Film Festival AustraliaM 
MexicoC 
Philippines 
Singapore USAR 
Argentina 
UK15 
Germany16 
Japan 
France12 Argentina Australia France Germany Japan Mexico Netherlands Philippines Portugal Singapore Sweden UK USA 
Got to share this with friends last night, and it remains one of my all-time favorite films.
Joel Anderson's chilling, devastating story about a family experiencing strange things after the death of their daughter is just at the top of its class. Presented as a documentary, LAKE MUNGO's terrors are quiet, subtle, and insidious. This movie always gives me gooseflesh up and down my arms as it builds its dread, and by the time we get to THAT shot (if you've seen it, you know exactly the one I mean) it becomes clear just how far into your mind and heart the movie has burrowed without you even realizing it.
Just exceptional, terrifying, and ultimately heartbreaking. The movie will stick with you, and the more you think about its lonely, tragic implications, the more it will haunt you.
Watch this at night on your laptop.
100
I'll never forget the day I saw a ghost. Or at least I thought I did. My family decided to take a trip to Yellowstone National Park, exploring the canyons and wildlife and hot springs. I was 11 at the time. My mom was eager to stay at the Old Faithful Inn, right near the titular geyser. The design of the Inn is stately, a national historic landmark, and I became excited when my dad told ghost stories about the hotel; stories that he probably looked up online before we embarked on the trip. There was one about a bride of a shipping company owner that had long been debunked, her body found in a bloody bathtub with her…
Truly cannot understand why so many people recommend this movie. It was awful.
I’ve said many times: I can forgive ridiculous premises, plot holes, corny stuff and bad special effects, but it’s absolutely unforgivable when a movie is just flat out boring, and Lake Mungo is one of the most boring fucking movies I’ve ever seen.
The “scares” are literally just slow zoom-ins on blurry photographs and that’s it. Nothing else. That’s the whole movie. And you know what the incredibly slow burn all leads up to in the end? Absolutely nothing!
The whole thing felt like it had a lot of potential but doesn’t deliver on even an ounce of it.
1/5 blurry ghost pictures of my bunghole
Was she scared when it happened? Did she wonder where you were? Why she couldn't be saved? Or did she feel like it was her fault? It didn't matter if she tried. It didn't matter if everything worked or felt fine. It happened. No one knows if anything else will happen again. You kept the porch light on for so long, never turning it off or letting the glimmer fail because you hoped she would come back again, or at least get the truth that she wasn't. But it was pointless. She was right behind you, a doorway down, in a place you couldn't see.
The Filmmakers: “Look at this picture of a ghost. Isn’t it scary? Keep staring at it while we zoom in on it. It’s scary right? Just keep looking, we have to extend the runtime somehow...”
UPDATE: my opinion has now changed and my updated review is here.
Mike flanagan probably watches this while excitedly punching the air
Meticulously crafted dread. Well acted, somber, and filled with numerous moments that made me feel incredibly uneasy—even unnerved. I watched this late last night, alone, and simple yet specific zoom in shots of images on photographs made me uncomfortable sitting in the dark.
I was fully involved with this family's attempt to discover what happened to their daughter, and how the somber story unfolds. I couldn’t help but pick up a Japanese horror vibe/influence buried in the mix, as well as thinking about Twin Peaks solely based on the fact that I’ve always wanted to see Laura Palmer’s mystery told with mockumentry style like this is.
I hadn’t watched this in ten years, but I’m glad I gave it a revisit because…
What is there to say about LAKE MUNGO, except that it is one of the greatest independent horror films ever made. I rented this on a lark many years ago, part of the 8 Films to Die For series, expecting very little. I was gobsmacked by what I saw, and have spent the better part of the last 15 years trying to share this movie with as many people as I possibly can. Rendered in the style of a documentary, complete with talking-head interviews and reenactments, this tragic ghost story is a work of art.
Rich characterizations and a phenomenal plot help this story reach depths of dread, loss, regret, and heartache that truly amaze. It also features one of…
So happy they finally made a film adaptation of pictures with a red circle in the background.
Laura Palmer the imprint of you can be seen everywhere
I mungo, you mungo, he-she-me mungo. Mungoing, mungology, the study of mungo! It’s first grade, Spongebob.
