Found-Footage February: Lake Mungo
Due to the extensive nature of found-footage films, it can be easy for some movies to be overlooked and to achieve the attention it deserves recently. Initially released in 2008, Lake Mungo is one example where it’s been a horror gem but became known to a broader audience when it arrived on Shudder. Aside from its critically acclaimed status, Lake Mungo is a genuinely fantastic film that gives a new spin on the found-footage subgenre as it examines a grieving family who experiences paranormal occurrences following the unexpected drowning and death of their daughter. It’s a film that scares me on an existentialist level and forces viewers to ponder their familial relationships and mortality.
Directed and written by Joel Anderson, the Australian film was released in 2008 at the Sydney Film festival and then screened at South by Southwest in 2009. Serving as Anderson’s debut, Lake Mungo had a budget of $1.4 million in Australian dollars and grossed over $8 thousand worldwide. With a 95% on Rotten Tomatoes, the movie scored rave reviews and became a critical darling.
After the drowning of Alice Palmer (Talia Zucker), her mother June (Rosie Traynor), her father Russel (David Pledger), and her brother Matthew (Martin Sharpe) begin to believe that Alice is haunting their house after Matthew’s video camera caught her ghost. Soon, the family realizes that they never truly knew Alice and discover what led to her death.
A moment that always stands out to me is when June laments pushing Alice away and not getting that opportunity to heal that relationship. It’s a poignant and resonant moment that rings true to real life. After someone dies, we do not get the chance to mend old wounds. Especially when a young person dies unexpectedly, the death leaves a hole that cannot be filled. As a result, June never got that closure and held some regrets about not identifying Alice’s body. But with her ghost, June believes she gets a second chance to reconcile her relationship with Alice and has her body exhumed.
Yet, the film takes a turn when it’s revealed that Matthew doctored the footage as a means of giving his mother closure. It’s a fascinating development since it recontextualizes what we previously saw. I enjoyed how Matthew explained how he faked the footage. It’s a nice under the hood moment that does not cheapen the previous events of the movie. Instead, it strengthens the family dynamic and emphasizes the film’s themes. Even though June is initially hurt, it brings them closer together.
But, the knife turns deeper after June rewatches the doctored footage and recognizes her neighbor sneaking into Alice’s room and searching for something. The family investigates Alice’s room and finds a hidden videotape detailing Alice sleeping with their neighbor and wife. The discovery prompts the family to figure out who Alice truly is. After all, the hidden pieces of a person come to life following their death, and it’s up to people to assemble them into a picture for interpretation. People are complex and hide parts of themselves all the time.
The film’s true horror happens near the end when the family finds Alice’s cellphone she hid at Lake Mungo a year ago. On the grainy footage, the family finds out that Alice came face to face with a bloated doppelganger of herself, foreshadowing her eventual drowning. The idea of death is scary, but having a premonition of our death takes it to another level. Alice’s death acts as her ghost, counting down the days until she dies. Alice does not know how much longer she has, but she does her best to prep for it and help her family move on. Being confronted with our mortality hits on a much deeper fear and can cause an existentialist crisis. Death can happen at any time, and even if we try to warn others about it, it will still not help.
Following the discovery, her family moves out of their house and gets their closure. But over the credits, it’s revealed that Alice’s ghost was captured but hidden within the doctored footage. Instead of making her presence known, she provided a more guiding hand to help her family process her death. Her memory lives on, and she experiences peace. Alice’s ghost smiles, knowing that her family has not forgotten her but can move on with their life.
Thanks again for reading. You can keep with the blog and get updates by following it on Instagram @thebloginthewoods or by following/subscribing to The Blog in the Woods via Medium. Continuing “Found-Footage February,” I will be discussing the films One Cut of the Dead on Saturday and it’s available to view on Shudder.
