Lake Mungo(2008)

Here we are at the 5th review of this years After Dark Horror Fest, and things aren't looking better. So far, I have only liked 2 out of the 5 films that I have seen. Lake Mungo is not a bad movie, it's just NOT a Horror film! More than anything, it reminded me of an hour and half episode of Unsolved Mysteries. I am wondering if they just didn't have enough films to release, and just rushed this one out to meet the quota.

The story is about a 16 year old girl Alice, who drowns during a family picnic. Shortly after her death, Alice starts showing up in various photographs and videos shot by friends and neighbors. We find out that her older brother has faked these, and never really explains why. Then things take a more sinister turn when they find a videotape of Alice having sex with a neighbor couple. This aspect of the film reminds me more of Laura Palmer's tribulations in Twin Peaks. Clues lead the family to Lake Mungo, where Alice went on a school trip the year before. She buried a bag of her possessions, including her cell phone. The video footage captured on the cell phone, is very eerie, but comes a little to late in the film, to be a big payoff. Like I said, it's not a horror film, but if you like things like Unsolved Mysteries or Cold Case Files, you could do a lot worse than this Australian film.