I saw a comment somewhere about this film saying, 'to be so completely alone you have no one to haunt but yourself'.. I'm heartbroken for weeks every time I watch this film
@@Talia.777 the entire point of the novice is that this girl kept many secrets and hid her true thoughts and feelings from people around her. Have you ever heard of the concept of being lonely in a crowd? Yes she was loved, but she was also emotionally isolated and this emotional isolation became physical in death.
@@plantemor literally nobody got that from this film except for your woo woo hippie ass. anyways i personally think its about appreciating your weird ass family. this is coming from a triple D student that took 3 acting classes for fun at Harvard
I've watched multiple videos on Lake Mungo and it always surprises me that no one seems to recognize what Alice saw. It was her doppelganger (also more horrifyingly called a "fetch"). While the term has come to mean other things, the original idea of the doppelganger was that it was an apparition that looks exactly like you, but in death. Once you see your doppelganger, you don't have much longer to live. Alice's encounter at lake Mungo is a textbook doppelganger encounter.
@@kfenrislMyths don’t have to be real to be referenced in movies with impact. You can not believe in these things being real and still understand the impact and reference, it still has purpose and meaning.
the lake mungo scene where Alice comes face to face with her future dead corpse to me is the most unnerving scene made to me especially once i rewatched it and noticed the corpse actually swaying slightly back and forth and interpreted it as if the corpse were the one walking up on Alice and not the other way around. It still gets me
It is too bad the tension built in that scene is ruined by their stupid stuck camera freeze effect. I couldn't believe that they finally had a creepy scene set up but just couldn't help themselves and sabotaged it.
I've loved this movie since it came out, fast-forward to like last year when I was so happy to re-watch it and was drunk as hell and I had totally forgot this shot/"Jumpscare" of her bloating rotting corpse's face. Nearly shit myself because the entire rest of the movie is a vide.
I didn't find Lake Mungo all that scary, but did for sure find it beautiful and moving. I absolutely adore it and wish it was more appreciated outside of our horror loving community
Yes I think it was endearing how the mother was coming to terms with the death of Alice, and as well as the part where Alice said she saw her mother in her dreams leaving the house. Sadly most of the good stuff was within the last 20 minutes.
Watched this film 6 years ago and loved it, but never found the courage to go back to it. Existential dread combined with deep sorrow, it’s equally tragic and horrifying.
This beautiful masterpiece is ultimately about loneliness to me. Alice was a very misunderstood soul who didn't seem to be seen by anyone. She wasn't missed by any of her friends when she went off on her own in Lake Mungo, her secret affair with the Peweys flew under everyone's radar and when she asked for help from her parents, well, it seemed like her parents just had better things to do. Both her mother and brother made up false narratives to help themselves get over this grief quicker (ironically while trying to help each other and trying to escape the truth, as the mother never wanted to see the remains and her brother doctored the footage) and her father threw himself into work Severe loneliness, especially in kids her age, can often feel like there's no future. It honestly kinda feels like you're already dead. This is why I don't think we're supposed to take the seemingly supernatural element of the wonky timeline as literal, but instead as an analogy for how Alice and her family always seem to just miss out on properly connecting (which would also explain why Alice felt more comfortable in the affair, since this family DID notice her, albeit under irresponsible circumstances). The most tragic thing at all happens when the family finally learns to move on. They move away and Alice is left alone, again. Still misunderstood, still unacknowledged, still without the love of her family. What actually happened at Lake Mungo was never the point. Wanting that answer is understandable, but even asking the question makes the mystery about her death. People always seem so interested in the dead, but if we actually paid close attention to people while they're alive, maybe we can actually form a connection that will make life worthwhile That's a life Alice never had, and that is ultimately why this film is so haunting to me. Alice was all alone in life, and now she's just as alone in death, with people holding onto ideas of who they thought she was, while never actually having paid any atttention to the reality of her.
Woah, this is how I interpreted it too, except you put it way more eloquently. Everything anyone knows about Alice is somewhat or entirely removed from *her* and that makes you wonder about your own life and whether people really know and understand *you*. I think that's what got the existential dread really going for me.
this was a great video. and i don't know if i'll ever be able to imagine anything scarier than seeing your own corpse walking up to you in the darkness. that scene made me physically ill with terror.
The one I'll never rewatch and has haunted me for years now has been The Poughkeepsie Tapes..... There was stuff I thought I liked that I can never even hear without it making me wanna puke
@@keiththorpe9571 I tell my friends that's a movie that was extremely effective horrifying movie that id never watch with anyone or recommend it to anyone
I fucking hated the zooming in the pictures and just staying there for several seconds. Easily the top scariest moments for me in my whole horror media consumption life.
Glad someone loved it! I found the whole zoom in tactic to be tedious and the stupidest scare tactic ever employed in a scary movie. That scare tactic is all they try to scare off people and it failed miserably for me. But good for you ig.
@@Gods_bane It’s a polarizing movie, no need to be so judgmental of OPs opinion. Less than 5 minutes into the video is a disclaimer about your experience being very subjective in this case, it’ll work for some and not others
@@WhiteTulip2002 I am not talking about the movie I am talking about the zoom in tactics. Also I don't mind people liking it. I ain't a spoil sport. I am just giving my opinion just like everyone else is doing on the thread.
It’s really interesting to me how differently people experience discomfort and fear. Just like how people can be terrified of mice but not scared of the dark.
This! I found it to be horribly boring but my sister, who watched it with me, was too scared to sleep by herself for a whole week after. Meanwhile I love The Conjuring/The Nun and she finds them to be boring and cliche.
@@melliethemortician I wonder if your good self and dear @kingly. here would ever feel different if you watched it at a different time in your life. Agree that it's a film that hits hard or not at all, and I'm fascinated by whether there's a particular reason for that. I share a similar opinion to our esteemed Mr Graves, but completely understand why others find it dull!
It didn’t scare me. (Movies don’t scare me.) But I thought it was fantastic. It has an engaging emotional story about family and grief with some fun eeriness and mysteries. I loved it and have watched it many times. I’m easily bored too.
I don't have the words to explain how much emotion I felt watching you talk about this movie. At the end when you spoke about the loneliness my entire body covered in goosebumps. You did an amazing job putting over your feelings towards the film.
I absolutely love this movie. The sustained subtle creepiness and existential dread of the whole thing really manages to get under my skin. I guess it doesn't work for everyone out there but it's one of those special movies that will become an absolute favorite if it does.
This movie did scare the bejeesus out of me, but more than that it made me so, so sad. To think of Alice by herself in that house watching her family leave and they're sure that she's moved on. It was some kind of existential dread and sorrow that very few movies managed to make me feel. I'm never watching this movie again.
This is going to sound super lame, you know that book (and sequential movie adaptation) “The Lovely Bones”? She, a teen girl, gets SA and murdered by a creepy man and buried, her family doesn’t know she’s dead. The story is told from her perspective after death watching her family grieve and go on with their lives. I read that book, sobbed the entire time, it still haunts me and it’s been about 17-18 years since I read it. I almost couldn’t finish the book. I could never bring myself to watch the movie adaptation. I never will. That feeling of profound sadness, hopelessness, fear, the innate terror of watching your family after death, in your house, watching your family move on without you, from an omnipresent point of view. It’s similar to this movie, Lake Mungo.
Yup... And I just realised that's my dad's situation now... He died in that apartment unit I grew up in for the past 19 years. We were kicked out by the landowners after a strange episode. Now a new family lives there... And I can't help think... Maybe my dad's now there looking at this new family while wondering where we are now... When the last he has seen is us angry over his betrayal...
@@chunellemariavictoriaespan8752 I know you're a stranger on the internet and I don't know what you believe, but in Orthodox Christianity we teach that we can pray for the dead, that they may find peace. You should pray for your father. I will too.
What you said at 13:15 is very true. I lost my aunt to cancer when i was 9, because of it I had my first ever sickle cell crisis(they are often caused by stress) and because I don't deal with grief well i became very fixated on death/dying/why it happens. Im now 25 and in school for mortuary science because of that urge to help people in their final moments and figure out why or how they died and give their family at least a bit of closure and help them to grieve in a way I never could.
Every so often you’ll watch something or read something that says “I get it. I know how you feel. I see you.” Midsommar will always be that for me, and Mike Flanagan’s work also hits that every time. I feel like Lake Mungo is another example of this, and maybe one that some people don’t “get” until they’ve experienced something that changes their world in the way that the death of a loved one does. I always love when someone resonates with a movie like this in the same way I do, because it makes me feel seen.
Yeah, 100%! It's such a well-done mockumentary that it can't help but resonate with those who have lost significant others. I am also a fully subscribed member to the Mike Flanagan Fan Club!
Not just the death of any loved one, but the death of someone you loved so much that the only way to cope with it is to believe that they are still there in some incorporeal way
I saw it in an indie theater when it first came out in 2012ish, it was billed as a documentary, and every one of us in the theater were BAFFLED and so freaked out, it was such a good bait and switch to bill it as a documentary, instead of found footage/mockumentary mash up as that's way more accurate. i still recommend this film, and just tell people it's a ghost story documentary and tell them to not look it up - going in blind was so much better for this one!
"Noroi: The Curse" should be one of the next films you watch. It's a similar kind of horror; the kind that makes your neck-hair stand up, and keeps making you look behind yourself, just so you can be absolutely sure you didn't slip into a reality where these things really happen.
Not the most terrifying I've seen BUT the one scene where the camera is going down the hallway while the hypnotized mom is talking really made my head go inside of my neck, it was creepy. Probably one of the creepiest things I've ever seen in a movie.
I really liked the mokumentary style and the twist it presented in the first 3rd-ish so i was already enjoying the concept and characters enough...but that cellphone video SHOOK me the first time I watched it. I'm typically a very "logical" person and don't really believe in the supernatural in any tangible way, but i have a HORRIBLE irrational fear of doppelgangers and the mythology many cultures have of how they portend your death if you see yours. So when they movie went in that direction so suddenly and with such eerie delivery, I was GRIPPED by the movie in a MUCH different way than I had in the beginning. Im pretty sure i didnt say a word or feel comfortable looking away from the screen until the credits had run. To this day, as much as I love this film, I have trouble even looking at stills of that *ONE* shot, as silly as it sounds.
When watching Haunting of Hill House, as soon as episode 5 ended I knew instinctively that the writer must have seen Lake Mungo and been as fucked up by it as I was. It was clearly a source of inspiration for Nellie's fate. Pleased to know I was right!
I said this on another video about Lake Mungo, I think, but I love this film, because at the end of it all, it made me feel a very specific kind of sadness that I've never experienced before or since. I know that might sound corny, but this is one of those movies where if it works for you, it really works for you. I still randomly think about it, to this day.
Have you seen A Ghost Story? The specific kind of sadness I felt from this movie is something I’ve only experienced from A Ghost Story, told much differently but the theme is the same
@@RedSpade37 it’s another slow burn and not “horror” but explores similar themes. It’s the only other film that left me with the same existential sadness as this did
This movie made me cry AND scared the fuck out of me. The part where they’re doing the silent meditation and she says “she can’t see me” is just so bleak. She’s invisible to everyone else. Like can that just happen???????? I don’t wanna be stuck in purgatory where no one can interact or help me.
I just finished watching it and have tears in my eyes. It didn’t scare me but did make me so sad. Alice saying “I don’t think she knows I’m here” then they leave in the house omg I’m devastated
I remember being terrified of the corpse scene of course, but also the slightly, jaggedly moving pixellated reflection of a face- the fact that we're hard-wired to see patterns in anything and everything, which can absolutely tie back into finding ghosts anywhere, this is why I will never look closely at shadows at night- and then being relieved that there was no ghost. Then feeling gutted by Alice's presence or memory being left behind, not sure if it's better or worse to think it's real or metaphorical. What a movie.
I've been collecting films and immersed in cinema for 40 years. I love horror even though the horror genre is often the most difficult genre to find genuine horror. I'm probably impressed with about 1% of films in the genre. That being stated, Lake Mungo is one of my favorites of the last 20 years. It genuinely got under my skin and 'scared' me. Great essay on this under-appreciated film! Thank you! 🖤
I'd never heard of this movie until i couple years back when i saw FoundFlix did a video on it. I watched it while i was home alone during the day and just listening to the guy talk about it and go through the plot until the end. I'm usually not incredibly scared by ghosts, in general, spooky imagery is enough to get me on edge but not enough to stick with me. But something about the ending, not even seeing Alice's corpse unnerved me more than just the very idea of having her loneliness at the fact she was dealing with something that no one else could fully comprehend. The inevitability of her doom seemed to color and touch everything/everyone in ways that nobody knew except her in the past, present and future and to have her family be unaware is a whole new level of being unseen and that stuck with me because i am also fearful of being present but not being seen or acknowledged, to feel like a ghost when I'm still here. Makes me pretty emotional. Sorry for the ramble.
Omg. THANK YOU. I’ve seen a lot of scary movies in my lifetime, and I thought this one was kind of boring, tbh, but you know what I picture when I’m lying in my bed in the dark,, taking my dog for a walk at night, or in my basement doing laundry?? That cellphone footage. 😭😭
This is a very special horror film. Not even just horror, but sad, and as you said, beautiful. I thought that it would bore me, prior to watching it. But I was terribly wrong. The feeling that you get after watching it is absolutely haunting, it stays with you for a long time. I'm glad there are people still talking about it! I first watched Lake Mungo while visiting my girlfriend a few years ago. We were both giggling about the anticipation of that fear in the beginning, only to be rendered completely silent & sickened with dread by the end. Needless to say, neither of us slept that night. But it was both in part due to fear, as well as having so much to think deeply about afterward. Not everyone will agree, but I think the film's approach to fear is absolutely genius.
This films gives me a feeling of terror, especially when the twist is revealed at the end and we go back through the photos and videos. It's an "achy" and sad feeling of fear. The loneliness, secrets, the nature of death, and a sprinkling of the supernatural.
The power of this film, and any great horror is how subtle it is. Horror can be so over the top and just gory etc, but this really gets under your skin in a powerful way. Totally agree with you! Great essay thank you. 🙂
As someone who’s trans and has a family of a certain religion that I don’t agree with, the concept of dying alone in the way Alice does is something I think about a lot. I don’t mean physically alone. Just the constant thought, since I haven’t had a chance to build close friendships with people as myself yet, I keep thinking “who I am dies with me.” And it makes me really sad that there’s so much preventing me sharing myself with those around me. If I died now no one in my circle would’ve ever come close to actually knowing *me* . This movie is so haunting and I love the last name being taken from the Palmer family in twin peaks. Alice is very similar to Laura, young girls afflicted with some sense of their impending tragedy in the time leading up to it and they both haunt the stories they’re in.
Mate I’m so with you. Watching the footage with your voice over has made me feel paralysed and I got goosebumps. I have just turned the light on haha. I watched this in 2014 and that feeling whenever that film pops up in my head has stayed with me. Thanks for the video, at the time I couldn’t find much media in it so it was satisfying to watch this video knowing others feel the same way too so long after first watching it.
Lake Mungo is one of my all-time favourite horror films and I'm glad that more people are talking about it, especially so beautifully. I'm someone who is afraid of death and I feel the film portrays this with the same dread I do, which makes watching it both cathartic and utterly terrifying.
So many times I start watching your videos, then have to stop go watch the movie you are reviewing and then coming back to watch the review… and I’m so glad I did, this movie was really a wonderful experience.
Your channel is seriously underrated! Glad to see Lake Mungo getting the recognition it deserves - its such an effective Australian horror film and It left me feeling so uneasy (especially the final shot). I just felt uncomfortable in my house after watching it.
When people say the movie is dull or boring, I’m curious what actually scares them. This movie touches on very fundamental fears of being human - anticipating death, how does life go on without you / our transience on this earth, fear of loneliness, feeling like you don’t belong or your time is almost up. It’s really heavy and fundamental stuff that this movie homes in on. Idk how you watch a movie like this and let that all bounce off of you.
@@vvolves7093 you’ve never felt a pang of sadness at the thought that life goes on without you? I’m not talking about from the perspective of when I’m dead, will I care about it. I’m talking about now as an alive person.
The smoothest brain take I've ever heard on this movie was that they didn't find Alice sympathetic because she did freaky sex acts with her neighbor...like bruh
I cannot get enough of seeing interpretations and analyses of this film. To this day, this film is the most profoundly affecting piece of cinema I have ever seen and it's so exciting seeing people give it its flowers
Thank you for sharing your illuminating and heartfelt insights, Evan. I watched the movie last night and it touched me very deeply, especially the ending sequence about Alice being left all alone in an empty house, unseen even by those who loved her the most. A truly haunting thought.
The first time I watched it, I remember I caught it midway through, I genuinely couldn’t work out if it was a documentary until the reveal. It shocked me so much. The father’s performance was remarkably nuanced. The film upset me and chilled me in equal measures
Stuckmann said the same thing you do about lake mungo years ago. I went out and rented it and was underwhelmed. So yesterday I saw you talking about it and immediately stopped you and found it could see it on Prime and watched it again. I admit it’s pretty creepy but more sad than scary. Dang!
@@RocklinGravesin no order: Speak No Evil (2022), Poughkeepsie Tapes, Possum, The Loved Ones, Caveat. After a rewatch, I Saw The TV Glow will probably end up on there too. I was too overwhelmed visually to fully take that devastatingly sad flick in.
The most well understood review of Lake Mungo i have ever seen! I agree with eveything you said! I can literally say that I had the same experience as you Evan. The whole impending looming doom all over Alice brings me such shivers and anxiety and terror that I have never ecperienced before. Especially when you consider that I saw this film while living on a student accomodation premises which were a monastery in the past and coicidentally with graves outside my house. The combination of my environment and the movie including scores, grainy videos and slow impending doom hit me so much i coudlnt sleep with the lights on for a few days and that image stuck in my mind!
I had a very similar reaction to this movie. - I think part of it is that my mother had died a few years before I saw it, and I think for people who understand grief, it's effective. - You understand things like the non-linearity of it and strange reactions and at the end of the movie, the family "moving on" by rationalizing a happy ending of sorts. Alice's grief, though, and her experience, the aloneness and terror of it...
The only thing that has ever come as close as scaring me as the doppleganger scene in Lake Mungo was the dirty hobo scene in Mulholland Dr. by David Lynch. Lynch has a way of really freaking me out and I didn't expect that kind of vibe except even more terrifying from another director but Lake Mungo has stuck with me.
I think the use of the uncanny here is the real unsung hero. The notion of the past or the future interrupting the present is disturbing, but it makes such sense here.
I only recently discovered your channel. I really like the way you deliver your thoughts and opinions. After watching a few videos, I was drawn to this one and have now subscribed so I won't miss new ones!
I'm so glad there are others out there who were deeply disturbed by this film. I watched it about a month ago for the first time and was blown away by how much it scared me!
I tried to watch lake mungo several months ago and had high expectations and i fell asleep about a third in. I never revisited it so this is perfect thank you!
Thank you so much for your video essay on this incredible medication on grief, loneliness and trauma. The film left me terrified and with an unshakeable sense of sadness that lasted long after the credits rolled. The loneliness and troubled nature of Alice, and the secrets later revealed reminded me so much of Laura Palmer and Twin Peaks. I wonder if the surname Palmer was chosen in tribute to Lynch and Twin Peaks. I have only had one other film leave me feeling the way Lake Mungo did, and that’s Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me. I would love to hear your thoughts on Twin Peaks, Lynch and Mulholland Drive. I very recently found your channel so I want to thank you for the fantastic insights you provide - your passion and dedication is clear to see.
This movie gets under my skin.... I mean this movie is stirring the depression and anxiety. And it's a that kind of fear. Not jumpscares and all. But it's very.... You can't discuss with normal people or friends because they don't understand it. They don't understand depression, pain, anxiety or mental illness so they just dismiss you and you don't talk about it because you'll be judged or they'll call you with different name and they'll think that you're a freak. So you just separate yourself from everyone and stay in your secret world. This movie needs that understanding. It's actually very disturbing horror movie and I enjoyed it 🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤
Hi Evan. I think your explanation of Lake Mungo is a beautiful analysis that is seeped with the same strange, lonely melancholy that haunts this film. I think you’re onto something when you talk about your personal experience with grief, and how this might affect how you experience Lake Mungo. I’m sure I have some deep, unresolved grief inside, and this film brought the ache of that close to my consciousness. I’m also Australian, so I was drawn into the believability of a ‘documentary’ that shows the same types of houses, landscapes, back yards, conversations and school excursions that I remember from my teenage years. This movie still haunts me a little. I understand why some people find it slow and boring, just as others find it horrifying and so terribly sad. Your analysis and review really did the film justice. Great work, thank you.💔
Phenomenal video. There were a couple points where you just describing bits of the movie gave me chills. This movie also lingered with me long after watching it.
Yeah, this movie is a profound emotional experience. I think, for me, the loneliness and isolation is the most terrifying thing. Oddly enough, the short in VHS that Mike Flanagan wrote had a similar effect on me, although in a very different way. It's the helplessness of needing desperately to connect to someone but being unable to do so. To imagine living in limbo with all this unresolved pain just fills me to the brim with melancholy. You can truly see where Flanagan drew inspiration from this film, especially with Hill House. Anyway, amazing job with this video. I think your description of how this movie makes you feel is spot on because there are just some feelings that are impossible to put into words.
I saw your video pop up and I started watching, but the way you initially described the film had me intrigued. So I watched the film and wow, you were right! Such a haunting and emotional story and I can't thank you enough for bringing it to my attention as I probably would have never watched it without your praise of the film. Now I'm back to watch your video and listen to your thoughts, love your videos!
Well, I decided to give it a watch after seeing your video.. and then I couldn't sleep. It got under my skin and every shadow and shape in my bedroom freaked me out, having to go to the bathroom terrified me for fear of what might be standing in the dimmness, but most of all a pall of loneliness and sadness settled on me. I'm not sure I could watch it again, but it certainly is a masterpiece. Thank you!
Thank you for this brilliant examination of a genuinely great movie. I have just one tiny quibble; no comment on the haunting combination of sound and imagery immediately following the closing credits? When I watched the movie, I actually felt a sense of relief as the credits came to an end, that the worst was over. But then...
So fucking glad there are other people out there that get this movie! So many say this nothing and it's boring. Each to their own ofc, but it is great to hear my feelings about LM be layed out perfectly like this. Instant sub.
You always inspire me to create for the hell of it. I often get in my head a lot about being able to "justify" learning/doing a new art skill. Your videos reignite that innate artistic curiosity. Always excited to see a new video from you
The existential horror is the scariest type of this genre. The questions of life and death and what comes with them are the most difficult and terrifying to me. This movie is really amazing.
A beautifully melancholic rumination on death and its effects that haunts the mind with the aching uncertainties that exist ever after, leaving a question that can never be solved, only accepted.
That final sequence when their visions link together is freaking insane. I don’t know how the director came up with that and made it work so well. Absolutely amazing.
I feel like the final scene of this movie was a huge missed opportunity. For the whole movie they'd been training us the audience to look for ghosts in the background of photos by slowly zooming in on the ghost in question. And they just repeated the zoom-in for the final ghost of the final photo shown in the final scene. They shouldn't have zoomed in that one last time. They'd trained us to look for the ghost on our own. So why zoom in on the ghost.? Let us find it on our own, it's scarier that way when the movie doesn't hold your hand and lead you to the scare
@@danbh84 yea some audiences need their hand held and a PowerPoint presentation to single out the ghost I guess. Or, they could have made the final ghost a bit more noticeable in the window behind the family and just left it at that. Let our brains (those of us that understood the movie) do the zooming in. And then skip the credits sequence which shows the ghost hiding in multiple pics and vids because it's a plothole anyway and it also felt a bit hacky. Like if the shining had spent its credits zooming in on 8 different oldtimey photos hanging on the walls of the Hotel to show Jack smiling in each photo
one of the things that made this movie particularly tense was the fact that all of the characters had slight cues to suggest that maybe *they* were responsible for her death, or knew more than they were letting on (the boyfriend, as a main example, with his slight smirk when talking about her). then the pictures during the credits? Good Lord [SPOILER] also, the bit at the end where the Mum picks up that piece of cable or whatever and walks into the back of the house made me really think she was going to off herself.
I saw Lake Mungo a few months back, and I gotta say, the movie was extremely unsettling. I'm always fond of movies that REALLY use the visual medium and reward the viewer for looking around the frame. It Follows and Long Legs were good in this way too.
Easily my fav horror RUclipsr and I took your advice. Paused this video went and watched the film and came back and boy am I glad I did what an amazing recommendation!
Thank you for this video. It is so good to hear from someone who felt the same, as you say, 'visceral reaction,' to this film as I did. It was so satisfying to hear you use the same language as I after experiencing this piece of art. 'Dread', is an important word for this film. I, too, keep rewatching Lake Mungo. It lives in my head as a deeply sad and haunting work. I recommend it carefully, as it is not for everyone. Thank you for highlighting all the amazing facets of Lake Mungo, including the music and use of small details in the storytelling. Even now, thinking about some of the scenes crushes me a little.
Today: See’s a notification from Rocklin Graves with the thumbnail reading ‘Lake Mungo’ (thinks - must watch this later), at lunch a family member mentions catching up at Mungo when they’re back on the mainland (triggered), starts watching your video and dutifully pauses at the 4min mark to not spoil. Proceeds to watch movie, then watch your review & I followed along with your observations *Spoiler alert* A. I agree with you in the way this found footage/mockumentary was done, I actually mid way paused it to double check it wasn’t legit found footage (I know that makes me sound naive but HELL did they make it believable) I genuinely think the slow pacing helped here. To the above, even though I am from Victoria in Australia, I didn’t recognise any of the actors (helped with realism) B. I agree with liking Russell so much, again his character felt real. I always ask “if I genuinely thought I saw a ghost, would you believe me?” And people say ‘yes’ EVEN if they themselves are sceptics. This is AGONISINGLY rare across the horror/mystery genre < which is why they always seem unrealistic. Refreshingly, this film didn’t follow that painful trope. C. The ‘Toohey’ tape twist shocked me, and reminded me of a true crime story (can’t remember where) but where someone was living in the house unknown to the new homebuyers. Though no sexual things were in that case, just the concept of someone else lurking in your house (explains all the bumps in the night). Though this plot twist was great, I didnt give it as much kudos as you - given how quickly it was closed down with no resolve. It does as you conclude hark back to the overarching undertone of ‘keeping secrets’ which is eluded to gently throughout the movie until now. I also watched this on RUclips so had no idea who was actually in that sex tape and for a minute there genuinely thought it was the minors which would have been an absolutely horrific plot twist. D. Absolutely didn’t pick up that Russell’s vision was Matthew’s footage! For a bit there I was led to think maybe Matthew had been being a bit of a creeper. Good shout. E. I didn’t watch the ending credits until your video and CRUD, that was some epic misdirection. Reminder to always watch the credits. Closing thoughts: Your interpretation and the way you closed out this movie, with her loneliness only being exacerbated in death, and your thoughts, makes me want to watch this again (today) with mum. Now I’ve seen it plus your review, I’m… feeling those feelings you’re putting down. Thank you SO much for pouring your heart and soul into this, it made me re-consider my first viewing and I am actually excited to watch it again to absorb more. Legend as always.
this movie had so many moments where it built such an eerie atmosphere. The b-roll shots of the empty house with the music ambience sent me to a place of terror. One of my favorite horror films forsure!
For me it was the dual visions of mother and daughter at the end that scared me. The idea of being left alone and invisible and out of reach of your loved ones broke my heart
I watched this movie years ago as a DVD rental. I watch a lot of horror movies so I'm not usually easily scared. This movie really gave me the creeps. After it was over, I just sat there terrified and couldn't move. I was wishing I had not watched it while I was alone at home. I haven't watched the movie again since! Haunting long after the movie is over.
This is so eerie, because I'd never even *heard* of this movie before... until two days ago, when I watched a _"Scariest Found Footage Horror Movies Iceberg"_ video (pretty sure it was on Poi's channel, if I'm not mistaken). And I thought to myself, “Well, *that* sounds intriguing” ...but I haven't actually got around to watching it... *yet;* though it certainly has been in the back of my mind ever since. And now, tonight, your video randomly shows up on my homepage. _Coincidence...? Or fate...?_ (It's absolutely coincidence... probably. _Maybe...?_ Uhh... yeah... probably... 👻)
@@justinburchette thoughts on Alice's spirit trapped in a cycle of resentment like some kind of japanese onryo (iirc tho it's also based on Australian aboriginal beliefs) and oh- the credit sequence!
@@acrellama Well, let me ask you this: What makes you think her spirit is trapped in a cycle of resentment...? I didn't get that impression from her at all, really; it never felt like there was any lingering resentment there... just a lot of sadness. Sadness, and regret. Those are the two primary feelings I got from her. I can relate to that (and to her) a lot, actually... unfortunately... 😔 Also, what _about_ the credit sequence? I don't know what you're referring to... 🤔
@@justinburchette for me, sadness and resentment are interlinked but that might be more of me resenting her mom for being emotionally distant. Oh yeah, one thing's for sure, there's definitely sadness. When the movie ends, there's a sequence of photos that zooms into her real ghost, not the doctored "ghost" photos her brother did
This was such a pleasant surprise for me when I first saw it. The genuine humanity, meditation, and mystery of it just inspire a specific type of dread and unease. The dedication to the storytelling form makes it that successful. The footage from her phone and the picture reveals made me so uneasy, and it was the true final tightening of the grip the rest of the film had on me.
I'm not the least bit surprised that this movie resonated so profoundly with Mike Flanagan. Nell came to mind immediately after we saw what Alice saw and I watched Lake Mungo for the first time years after watching Hill House. I'm quite affected by the idea of cyclical haunting because there's just no escape when it's just you. This kind of cold, lonely, grief-laden horror will always get to me because it reminds me that I'll feel it for real someday.
Lake Mungo is such an inspired, perfectly pitched film, impeccably directly and extremely well-acted. I wish Joel Anderson would try to capture lightning in a bottle again.
I love this film so so much. it’s a true emotional exploration where characters are laid bare to each other but continue looking past one another in a way that centers their interpretation of events. I think that’s what elevates the underlying tragedy of Alice’s death. As in life, people chose to view her only within the context of their thoughts and feelings toward her, but she was an entire person whether they chose to acknowledge that or not. the revelations that came through about Alice as the film carried on make sense when you realize no one gave her as much attention in life as they did in death. anyway I’m yapping but your video was delightfully insightful and emotionally resonant :) thanks so much for sharing !
I've been waiting on your take on this one for awhile now! I'm so seldom actually scared by movies, but this one got to me... to the point that I actually got goosebumps watching you recap the movie. I've tried repeatedly to put my finger on why this one disturbs me so much, and the closest I can come is that what Alice sees in that one scene made me realize on an emotional level that I am going to die. Something bad is going to happen to me... it hasn't caught up to me yet, but it's coming. It just ratcheted up my existential dread to the level that when I finished it my first thought was, "I wish I never saw this." I can't fathom anything worse than Alice seeing the physical representation of her own upcoming death. It gives me the creeps just thinking about it. The other part, for me, is that it made me contemplate how we leave our dead behind, no matter how much we love them. We have to move past them. They become something that belongs to the past. If I came downstairs tomorrow and saw my late grandparents sitting at the table, my first feeling would be terror- because I know they don't belong here anymore. Alice alone and lonely and unseen in the past while her family moves on to the rest of their lives is just profoundly sad and disconcerting. It's just such a profound meditation on grieving and existential dread and it seems like when it clicks for someone, it really clicks. I get that it doesn't work for everyone, I have friends who were bored to tears by this film. But for me, it lives rent-free in my head in a way that nothing else ever has.
Pure existential dread. Absolutely terrifying feeling we get watching this movie. And yet, so many people don’t feel that and cannot even comprehend it. Crazy.
I kept hearing how great this one was, so was super eager to finally watch it. Sadly, it didn't scare me. It didn't even unnerve me, but I still liked it. It was a great film - a solid slow-burn with exceptional attention to detail. Though I do wish it scared me like it apparently does so many others.
I completely agree with you - I went in ready for a horror flick - instead, I was dragged backwards through a deeply emotional experience surrounding loss. I mean - I loved it. Still do. Just didn't experience it as a horror film at all.
I didnt find the movie frightening, but i found it engaging and haunting in a sad way. A couple of sequences did make me feel extremely uneasy (the corpse, the shot of the neighbor crouched in the room, etc.)
the idea of knowing you're going to die before you do hit me so hard. my late boyfriend passed suddenly at 24 in 2016, leading up to that he'd always tell me he had a sense that he'd die first and would ask me what i would do if he did die. it's like he knew his death was going to happen with no signs of it
To me Lake Mungo expresses "death" before death. Intense feeling of I wouldn't say abandonment but being pushed to the side, around but just ignored until things are too late. I'm not saying that it was her own actions specifically though.
I saw Lake Mungo just months after its release on a website called Fear Itself. I was on a first date and we had thought it would be a fun little time together before getting busy, but we were RIVETED to the screen instead, and we just talked about the movie for hours after it had ended. Lake Mungo is easily top 3 horror films for me.
While I didn't find the movie to be frightening it had a similar feel to one that did leave me affected and that stayed with me in a way similar to what you have described. That movie was "The Others". Ghost stories don't seem to scare me often but The Others hit a part of my psyche that left me traumatised. Kidman's performance was astonishing and for personal reasons it brought up childhood memories and feelings that I'd log since forgotten or rather just left behind. I've seen other people praise The Others but I don't think that I've heard anyone say that it had anything like the impact it had on me. Lake Mungo had someof that spooky magic but not to the same extent, for me.
Beautifully acted, well written and haunting in the most existential way possible. The actors deserve so much credit for the raw portrayal of a family torn apart by silence in life and death.
Hands down the best video I’ve ever seen about this movie, you perfectly described everything that makes this movie genuinely one of the most effective explorations of greif. So worth the wait thank you truly for covering this movie.
I saw a comment somewhere about this film saying, 'to be so completely alone you have no one to haunt but yourself'.. I'm heartbroken for weeks every time I watch this film
So stop watching it retard, it’s ass
She was loved by her family and friends, she wasn't a lonely person... Don't you think?!
@@Talia.777 the entire point of the novice is that this girl kept many secrets and hid her true thoughts and feelings from people around her.
Have you ever heard of the concept of being lonely in a crowd?
Yes she was loved, but she was also emotionally isolated and this emotional isolation became physical in death.
@@plantemor Yeah, agreed 👍
@@plantemor literally nobody got that from this film except for your woo woo hippie ass.
anyways i personally think its about appreciating your weird ass family. this is coming from a triple D student that took 3 acting classes for fun at Harvard
I've watched multiple videos on Lake Mungo and it always surprises me that no one seems to recognize what Alice saw. It was her doppelganger (also more horrifyingly called a "fetch"). While the term has come to mean other things, the original idea of the doppelganger was that it was an apparition that looks exactly like you, but in death. Once you see your doppelganger, you don't have much longer to live. Alice's encounter at lake Mungo is a textbook doppelganger encounter.
So THAT'S where she went wrong. Even though we were warned against it, Alice actually made "fetch" happen
And of course you believe that pathetic nonsense...
I think IT scary
@@kfenrislMyths don’t have to be real to be referenced in movies with impact. You can not believe in these things being real and still understand the impact and reference, it still has purpose and meaning.
@renaticoleman324 Hey, don't be Mean, Girl. 😄
the lake mungo scene where Alice comes face to face with her future dead corpse to me is the most unnerving scene made to me especially once i rewatched it and noticed the corpse actually swaying slightly back and forth and interpreted it as if the corpse were the one walking up on Alice and not the other way around. It still gets me
I always assumed the corpse WAS the one walking up on Alice.
It is too bad the tension built in that scene is ruined by their stupid stuck camera freeze effect. I couldn't believe that they finally had a creepy scene set up but just couldn't help themselves and sabotaged it.
I always saw it as them walking and passing eachother, That scene though, oh man, will haunt me forever.
I've loved this movie since it came out, fast-forward to like last year when I was so happy to re-watch it and was drunk as hell and I had totally forgot this shot/"Jumpscare" of her bloating rotting corpse's face. Nearly shit myself because the entire rest of the movie is a vide.
That scene made me scream... I've never screamed from from a movie before lol
I didn't find Lake Mungo all that scary, but did for sure find it beautiful and moving. I absolutely adore it and wish it was more appreciated outside of our horror loving community
I was just about to comment this lmao
Oof, thank you I thought I was just utterly jaded
It wasn’t scary to me, but hauntingly beautiful and devastatingly sad.
Yes I think it was endearing how the mother was coming to terms with the death of Alice, and as well as the part where Alice said she saw her mother in her dreams leaving the house. Sadly most of the good stuff was within the last 20 minutes.
I was going to say the same I don't get it lol it wasn't bad but not even unnerving a bit.
Watched this film 6 years ago and loved it, but never found the courage to go back to it. Existential dread combined with deep sorrow, it’s equally tragic and horrifying.
It put me into a state of liminal dissociation. Existential dread is right.
So many times I think I will watch it, and then I don't.
This beautiful masterpiece is ultimately about loneliness to me. Alice was a very misunderstood soul who didn't seem to be seen by anyone. She wasn't missed by any of her friends when she went off on her own in Lake Mungo, her secret affair with the Peweys flew under everyone's radar and when she asked for help from her parents, well, it seemed like her parents just had better things to do. Both her mother and brother made up false narratives to help themselves get over this grief quicker (ironically while trying to help each other and trying to escape the truth, as the mother never wanted to see the remains and her brother doctored the footage) and her father threw himself into work Severe loneliness, especially in kids her age, can often feel like there's no future. It honestly kinda feels like you're already dead. This is why I don't think we're supposed to take the seemingly supernatural element of the wonky timeline as literal, but instead as an analogy for how Alice and her family always seem to just miss out on properly connecting (which would also explain why Alice felt more comfortable in the affair, since this family DID notice her, albeit under irresponsible circumstances). The most tragic thing at all happens when the family finally learns to move on. They move away and Alice is left alone, again. Still misunderstood, still unacknowledged, still without the love of her family. What actually happened at Lake Mungo was never the point. Wanting that answer is understandable, but even asking the question makes the mystery about her death. People always seem so interested in the dead, but if we actually paid close attention to people while they're alive, maybe we can actually form a connection that will make life worthwhile That's a life Alice never had, and that is ultimately why this film is so haunting to me. Alice was all alone in life, and now she's just as alone in death, with people holding onto ideas of who they thought she was, while never actually having paid any atttention to the reality of her.
Woah, this is how I interpreted it too, except you put it way more eloquently. Everything anyone knows about Alice is somewhat or entirely removed from *her* and that makes you wonder about your own life and whether people really know and understand *you*. I think that's what got the existential dread really going for me.
This was so incredibly well written. Thank you.
@@sohren94 brilliant!!
deeply said
Damn.
this was a great video. and i don't know if i'll ever be able to imagine anything scarier than seeing your own corpse walking up to you in the darkness. that scene made me physically ill with terror.
Haha thank you!
I completely agree with you, Lake Mungo is one of the most effectively unnerving, even haunting mockumentary-style horror movies I've ever seen.
Truly the best acting I’ve ever seen in this type of format. This could absolutely pass as a real documentary everyone in it was THAT good
Ever seen Noroi? Great double feature with this.
The one I'll never rewatch and has haunted me for years now has been The Poughkeepsie Tapes..... There was stuff I thought I liked that I can never even hear without it making me wanna puke
@@omgmacy Oh Hell, I think I blocked that one out of my memory. That was terrible...but very effective.
@@keiththorpe9571 I tell my friends that's a movie that was extremely effective horrifying movie that id never watch with anyone or recommend it to anyone
I fucking hated the zooming in the pictures and just staying there for several seconds. Easily the top scariest moments for me in my whole horror media consumption life.
Glad someone loved it! I found the whole zoom in tactic to be tedious and the stupidest scare tactic ever employed in a scary movie. That scare tactic is all they try to scare off people and it failed miserably for me. But good for you ig.
@@Gods_bane It’s a polarizing movie, no need to be so judgmental of OPs opinion. Less than 5 minutes into the video is a disclaimer about your experience being very subjective in this case, it’ll work for some and not others
@@WhiteTulip2002 I am not talking about the movie I am talking about the zoom in tactics. Also I don't mind people liking it. I ain't a spoil sport. I am just giving my opinion just like everyone else is doing on the thread.
This movie is either deeply disturbing to you or the most boring thing you’ve ever watched. It’s very divisive. I find it painfully dull personally
It’s really interesting to me how differently people experience discomfort and fear. Just like how people can be terrified of mice but not scared of the dark.
This! I found it to be horribly boring but my sister, who watched it with me, was too scared to sleep by herself for a whole week after. Meanwhile I love The Conjuring/The Nun and she finds them to be boring and cliche.
@@melliethemortician I wonder if your good self and dear @kingly. here would ever feel different if you watched it at a different time in your life. Agree that it's a film that hits hard or not at all, and I'm fascinated by whether there's a particular reason for that. I share a similar opinion to our esteemed Mr Graves, but completely understand why others find it dull!
+1 on painfully dull
It didn’t scare me. (Movies don’t scare me.) But I thought it was fantastic. It has an engaging emotional story about family and grief with some fun eeriness and mysteries. I loved it and have watched it many times. I’m easily bored too.
I don't have the words to explain how much emotion I felt watching you talk about this movie. At the end when you spoke about the loneliness my entire body covered in goosebumps. You did an amazing job putting over your feelings towards the film.
Thanks Sam! That's a relief to hear because I've been VERY nervous about this video haha
I remember you mentioning that so when I got the alert for this I had an internal "Yas!" on your behalf 😄
Agreed. Excellent review.
I absolutely love this movie. The sustained subtle creepiness and existential dread of the whole thing really manages to get under my skin. I guess it doesn't work for everyone out there but it's one of those special movies that will become an absolute favorite if it does.
This movie did scare the bejeesus out of me, but more than that it made me so, so sad. To think of Alice by herself in that house watching her family leave and they're sure that she's moved on. It was some kind of existential dread and sorrow that very few movies managed to make me feel. I'm never watching this movie again.
This is going to sound super lame, you know that book (and sequential movie adaptation) “The Lovely Bones”? She, a teen girl, gets SA and murdered by a creepy man and buried, her family doesn’t know she’s dead. The story is told from her perspective after death watching her family grieve and go on with their lives. I read that book, sobbed the entire time, it still haunts me and it’s been about 17-18 years since I read it. I almost couldn’t finish the book. I could never bring myself to watch the movie adaptation. I never will. That feeling of profound sadness, hopelessness, fear, the innate terror of watching your family after death, in your house, watching your family move on without you, from an omnipresent point of view. It’s similar to this movie, Lake Mungo.
Yup... And I just realised that's my dad's situation now... He died in that apartment unit I grew up in for the past 19 years. We were kicked out by the landowners after a strange episode. Now a new family lives there... And I can't help think... Maybe my dad's now there looking at this new family while wondering where we are now... When the last he has seen is us angry over his betrayal...
@@chunellemariavictoriaespan8752 I know you're a stranger on the internet and I don't know what you believe, but in Orthodox Christianity we teach that we can pray for the dead, that they may find peace. You should pray for your father. I will too.
the end credits with showing the photos that she was actually there SHOOK me
What you said at 13:15 is very true. I lost my aunt to cancer when i was 9, because of it I had my first ever sickle cell crisis(they are often caused by stress) and because I don't deal with grief well i became very fixated on death/dying/why it happens. Im now 25 and in school for mortuary science because of that urge to help people in their final moments and figure out why or how they died and give their family at least a bit of closure and help them to grieve in a way I never could.
Every so often you’ll watch something or read something that says “I get it. I know how you feel. I see you.” Midsommar will always be that for me, and Mike Flanagan’s work also hits that every time. I feel like Lake Mungo is another example of this, and maybe one that some people don’t “get” until they’ve experienced something that changes their world in the way that the death of a loved one does. I always love when someone resonates with a movie like this in the same way I do, because it makes me feel seen.
Yeah, 100%! It's such a well-done mockumentary that it can't help but resonate with those who have lost significant others.
I am also a fully subscribed member to the Mike Flanagan Fan Club!
Same.
i had that feeling so strongly from haunting of hill house, it's why it's one of my favorite shows ever
Not just the death of any loved one, but the death of someone you loved so much that the only way to cope with it is to believe that they are still there in some incorporeal way
I saw it in an indie theater when it first came out in 2012ish, it was billed as a documentary, and every one of us in the theater were BAFFLED and so freaked out, it was such a good bait and switch to bill it as a documentary, instead of found footage/mockumentary mash up as that's way more accurate.
i still recommend this film, and just tell people it's a ghost story documentary and tell them to not look it up - going in blind was so much better for this one!
the corpse was walking towards Alice not standing. which makes it so much more terrifying.
I'm pretty sure it's just standing there
@@RocklinGravesits not. if you put it in slow motion you can see the arms moving like its walking
It wasn not walking it was the camera you muppet...
@@ilovemusic8000 arms moving a bit does ntoe ven suggest moevemnt, get over yourself jeez, you blind??
@@kfenrisl wdym get over yourself im just explaining why i think that 😂 + many others have noted it thats why i noticed it
"Noroi: The Curse" should be one of the next films you watch. It's a similar kind of horror; the kind that makes your neck-hair stand up, and keeps making you look behind yourself, just so you can be absolutely sure you didn't slip into a reality where these things really happen.
It's definitely better than Lake mungo both are great films but noroi is just one of the finest ones out there
Not the most terrifying I've seen BUT the one scene where the camera is going down the hallway while the hypnotized mom is talking really made my head go inside of my neck, it was creepy. Probably one of the creepiest things I've ever seen in a movie.
Totally agree. It is a masterpiece. Not just as a "horror" film, but as a film. Period. Fantastic analysis, by the way.
I really liked the mokumentary style and the twist it presented in the first 3rd-ish so i was already enjoying the concept and characters enough...but that cellphone video SHOOK me the first time I watched it. I'm typically a very "logical" person and don't really believe in the supernatural in any tangible way, but i have a HORRIBLE irrational fear of doppelgangers and the mythology many cultures have of how they portend your death if you see yours. So when they movie went in that direction so suddenly and with such eerie delivery, I was GRIPPED by the movie in a MUCH different way than I had in the beginning. Im pretty sure i didnt say a word or feel comfortable looking away from the screen until the credits had run. To this day, as much as I love this film, I have trouble even looking at stills of that *ONE* shot, as silly as it sounds.
When watching Haunting of Hill House, as soon as episode 5 ended I knew instinctively that the writer must have seen Lake Mungo and been as fucked up by it as I was. It was clearly a source of inspiration for Nellie's fate. Pleased to know I was right!
I said this on another video about Lake Mungo, I think, but I love this film, because at the end of it all, it made me feel a very specific kind of sadness that I've never experienced before or since.
I know that might sound corny, but this is one of those movies where if it works for you, it really works for you.
I still randomly think about it, to this day.
Have you seen A Ghost Story? The specific kind of sadness I felt from this movie is something I’ve only experienced from A Ghost Story, told much differently but the theme is the same
@@MilesToGoGo I don't believe I've seen that, but I am very curious to check it out. Thanks for mentioning.
@@RedSpade37 it’s another slow burn and not “horror” but explores similar themes. It’s the only other film that left me with the same existential sadness as this did
This movie made me cry AND scared the fuck out of me. The part where they’re doing the silent meditation and she says “she can’t see me” is just so bleak. She’s invisible to everyone else. Like can that just happen???????? I don’t wanna be stuck in purgatory where no one can interact or help me.
I just finished watching it and have tears in my eyes. It didn’t scare me but did make me so sad. Alice saying “I don’t think she knows I’m here” then they leave in the house omg I’m devastated
@@MilesToGoGo oh so heartbreaking!!! Her family things they’re helping by moving on but noooooo
If that scares you, don't watch the short film Heck by Bitesized Nightmares on youtube. It's about a kid dying and getting stuck in purgatory.
I remember being terrified of the corpse scene of course, but also the slightly, jaggedly moving pixellated reflection of a face- the fact that we're hard-wired to see patterns in anything and everything, which can absolutely tie back into finding ghosts anywhere, this is why I will never look closely at shadows at night- and then being relieved that there was no ghost. Then feeling gutted by Alice's presence or memory being left behind, not sure if it's better or worse to think it's real or metaphorical. What a movie.
I've been collecting films and immersed in cinema for 40 years. I love horror even though the horror genre is often the most difficult genre to find genuine horror. I'm probably impressed with about 1% of films in the genre. That being stated, Lake Mungo is one of my favorites of the last 20 years. It genuinely got under my skin and 'scared' me. Great essay on this under-appreciated film! Thank you! 🖤
I'd never heard of this movie until i couple years back when i saw FoundFlix did a video on it. I watched it while i was home alone during the day and just listening to the guy talk about it and go through the plot until the end. I'm usually not incredibly scared by ghosts, in general, spooky imagery is enough to get me on edge but not enough to stick with me. But something about the ending, not even seeing Alice's corpse unnerved me more than just the very idea of having her loneliness at the fact she was dealing with something that no one else could fully comprehend. The inevitability of her doom seemed to color and touch everything/everyone in ways that nobody knew except her in the past, present and future and to have her family be unaware is a whole new level of being unseen and that stuck with me because i am also fearful of being present but not being seen or acknowledged, to feel like a ghost when I'm still here. Makes me pretty emotional. Sorry for the ramble.
Totally agree it haunts me whenever I remember it. The fact it touches on loss and your own death is scary and sad all at once.
Omg. THANK YOU.
I’ve seen a lot of scary movies in my lifetime, and I thought this one was kind of boring, tbh, but you know what I picture when I’m lying in my bed in the dark,, taking my dog for a walk at night, or in my basement doing laundry??
That cellphone footage. 😭😭
This is a very special horror film. Not even just horror, but sad, and as you said, beautiful. I thought that it would bore me, prior to watching it. But I was terribly wrong. The feeling that you get after watching it is absolutely haunting, it stays with you for a long time. I'm glad there are people still talking about it!
I first watched Lake Mungo while visiting my girlfriend a few years ago. We were both giggling about the anticipation of that fear in the beginning, only to be rendered completely silent & sickened with dread by the end. Needless to say, neither of us slept that night. But it was both in part due to fear, as well as having so much to think deeply about afterward. Not everyone will agree, but I think the film's approach to fear is absolutely genius.
This films gives me a feeling of terror, especially when the twist is revealed at the end and we go back through the photos and videos. It's an "achy" and sad feeling of fear. The loneliness, secrets, the nature of death, and a sprinkling of the supernatural.
The power of this film, and any great horror is how subtle it is. Horror can be so over the top and just gory etc, but this really gets under your skin in a powerful way. Totally agree with you! Great essay thank you. 🙂
As someone who’s trans and has a family of a certain religion that I don’t agree with, the concept of dying alone in the way Alice does is something I think about a lot. I don’t mean physically alone. Just the constant thought, since I haven’t had a chance to build close friendships with people as myself yet, I keep thinking “who I am dies with me.” And it makes me really sad that there’s so much preventing me sharing myself with those around me. If I died now no one in my circle would’ve ever come close to actually knowing *me* .
This movie is so haunting and I love the last name being taken from the Palmer family in twin peaks. Alice is very similar to Laura, young girls afflicted with some sense of their impending tragedy in the time leading up to it and they both haunt the stories they’re in.
Mate I’m so with you. Watching the footage with your voice over has made me feel paralysed and I got goosebumps. I have just turned the light on haha.
I watched this in 2014 and that feeling whenever that film pops up in my head has stayed with me.
Thanks for the video, at the time I couldn’t find much media in it so it was satisfying to watch this video knowing others feel the same way too so long after first watching it.
Lake Mungo is one of my all-time favourite horror films and I'm glad that more people are talking about it, especially so beautifully. I'm someone who is afraid of death and I feel the film portrays this with the same dread I do, which makes watching it both cathartic and utterly terrifying.
So many times I start watching your videos, then have to stop go watch the movie you are reviewing and then coming back to watch the review… and I’m so glad I did, this movie was really a wonderful experience.
Your channel is seriously underrated! Glad to see Lake Mungo getting the recognition it deserves - its such an effective Australian horror film and It left me feeling so uneasy (especially the final shot). I just felt uncomfortable in my house after watching it.
Thank you! It's one hell of a movie
When people say the movie is dull or boring, I’m curious what actually scares them. This movie touches on very fundamental fears of being human - anticipating death, how does life go on without you / our transience on this earth, fear of loneliness, feeling like you don’t belong or your time is almost up. It’s really heavy and fundamental stuff that this movie homes in on. Idk how you watch a movie like this and let that all bounce off of you.
I don't care about life moving on because ill be dead duh
@@vvolves7093 you’ve never felt a pang of sadness at the thought that life goes on without you? I’m not talking about from the perspective of when I’m dead, will I care about it. I’m talking about now as an alive person.
@@MR-dr5nc They gave you a thought terminating answer so it's not worth engaging with them because they won't engage with the thought exercise.
@@vvolves7093
A = A
The smoothest brain take I've ever heard on this movie was that they didn't find Alice sympathetic because she did freaky sex acts with her neighbor...like bruh
Really well articulated, this is one of those movies I watched once and never again, it really nails the existential dread.
I cannot get enough of seeing interpretations and analyses of this film. To this day, this film is the most profoundly affecting piece of cinema I have ever seen and it's so exciting seeing people give it its flowers
Thank you for sharing your illuminating and heartfelt insights, Evan. I watched the movie last night and it touched me very deeply, especially the ending sequence about Alice being left all alone in an empty house, unseen even by those who loved her the most. A truly haunting thought.
This film was a great watch; my computer froze during the beach scene and I had to reboot it - terrified and scared to bits; such an intense watch.
The first time I watched it, I remember I caught it midway through, I genuinely couldn’t work out if it was a documentary until the reveal. It shocked me so much. The father’s performance was remarkably nuanced. The film upset me and chilled me in equal measures
So glad you finally got to this one! One of my absolute favourites.
Stuckmann said the same thing you do about lake mungo years ago. I went out and rented it and was underwhelmed. So yesterday I saw you talking about it and immediately stopped you and found it could see it on Prime and watched it again. I admit it’s pretty creepy but more sad than scary. Dang!
Lake Mungo is one of 6 horror movies the deeply affect me. I love it so much. Great video too.
What were the others?
@@RocklinGravesin no order: Speak No Evil (2022), Poughkeepsie Tapes, Possum, The Loved Ones, Caveat.
After a rewatch, I Saw The TV Glow will probably end up on there too. I was too overwhelmed visually to fully take that devastatingly sad flick in.
@@afacelessname you might like 'Skinamarink' if you like those. And "Heck" by the same director - which is on YT for free
@@jesterssketchbook ohh i have a Skinamarink Steelbook. It didn’t work on me that well, but i respect the hell out of it
@afacelessname Eyyy Possum!!! One of my favourites
The most well understood review of Lake Mungo i have ever seen! I agree with eveything you said! I can literally say that I had the same experience as you Evan. The whole impending looming doom all over Alice brings me such shivers and anxiety and terror that I have never ecperienced before. Especially when you consider that I saw this film while living on a student accomodation premises which were a monastery in the past and coicidentally with graves outside my house. The combination of my environment and the movie including scores, grainy videos and slow impending doom hit me so much i coudlnt sleep with the lights on for a few days and that image stuck in my mind!
this is definitely one of the scariest movies i’ve ever seen, for tackling death the way it does, so happy you made a video about it
I had a very similar reaction to this movie. - I think part of it is that my mother had died a few years before I saw it, and I think for people who understand grief, it's effective. - You understand things like the non-linearity of it and strange reactions and at the end of the movie, the family "moving on" by rationalizing a happy ending of sorts. Alice's grief, though, and her experience, the aloneness and terror of it...
Thank you for putting words to these feelings I couldn’t express. I find this movie extremely sad and painful. But beautiful too. And terrifying.
The only thing that has ever come as close as scaring me as the doppleganger scene in Lake Mungo was the dirty hobo scene in Mulholland Dr. by David Lynch. Lynch has a way of really freaking me out and I didn't expect that kind of vibe except even more terrifying from another director but Lake Mungo has stuck with me.
I think the use of the uncanny here is the real unsung hero. The notion of the past or the future interrupting the present is disturbing, but it makes such sense here.
I only recently discovered your channel. I really like the way you deliver your thoughts and opinions. After watching a few videos, I was drawn to this one and have now subscribed so I won't miss new ones!
I'm so glad there are others out there who were deeply disturbed by this film. I watched it about a month ago for the first time and was blown away by how much it scared me!
I tried to watch lake mungo several months ago and had high expectations and i fell asleep about a third in. I never revisited it so this is perfect thank you!
Thank you so much for your video essay on this incredible medication on grief, loneliness and trauma.
The film left me terrified and with an unshakeable sense of sadness that lasted long after the credits rolled.
The loneliness and troubled nature of Alice, and the secrets later revealed reminded me so much of Laura Palmer and Twin Peaks. I wonder if the surname Palmer was chosen in tribute to Lynch and Twin Peaks.
I have only had one other film leave me feeling the way Lake Mungo did, and that’s Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me.
I would love to hear your thoughts on Twin Peaks, Lynch and Mulholland Drive.
I very recently found your channel so I want to thank you for the fantastic insights you provide - your passion and dedication is clear to see.
This one really got to me and stayed in my brain for days. That last scene is absolutely unnerving as hell.
This movie gets under my skin.... I mean this movie is stirring the depression and anxiety. And it's a that kind of fear. Not jumpscares and all. But it's very.... You can't discuss with normal people or friends because they don't understand it. They don't understand depression, pain, anxiety or mental illness so they just dismiss you and you don't talk about it because you'll be judged or they'll call you with different name and they'll think that you're a freak. So you just separate yourself from everyone and stay in your secret world. This movie needs that understanding. It's actually very disturbing horror movie and I enjoyed it 🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤
Hi Evan. I think your explanation of Lake Mungo is a beautiful analysis that is seeped with the same strange, lonely melancholy that haunts this film. I think you’re onto something when you talk about your personal experience with grief, and how this might affect how you experience Lake Mungo. I’m sure I have some deep, unresolved grief inside, and this film brought the ache of that close to my consciousness. I’m also Australian, so I was drawn into the believability of a ‘documentary’ that shows the same types of houses, landscapes, back yards, conversations and school excursions that I remember from my teenage years. This movie still haunts me a little. I understand why some people find it slow and boring, just as others find it horrifying and so terribly sad. Your analysis and review really did the film justice. Great work, thank you.💔
Thank you so much! I appreciate it
Phenomenal video. There were a couple points where you just describing bits of the movie gave me chills. This movie also lingered with me long after watching it.
Yeah, this movie is a profound emotional experience. I think, for me, the loneliness and isolation is the most terrifying thing. Oddly enough, the short in VHS that Mike Flanagan wrote had a similar effect on me, although in a very different way. It's the helplessness of needing desperately to connect to someone but being unable to do so. To imagine living in limbo with all this unresolved pain just fills me to the brim with melancholy. You can truly see where Flanagan drew inspiration from this film, especially with Hill House.
Anyway, amazing job with this video. I think your description of how this movie makes you feel is spot on because there are just some feelings that are impossible to put into words.
I saw your video pop up and I started watching, but the way you initially described the film had me intrigued. So I watched the film and wow, you were right! Such a haunting and emotional story and I can't thank you enough for bringing it to my attention as I probably would have never watched it without your praise of the film. Now I'm back to watch your video and listen to your thoughts, love your videos!
The scariest concept of this movie is the inevitability of death, an unscapable tragedy
Yes! Pure existential dread. Absolutely terrifying, I cannot explain why this movie and annihilation are like this for me.
Well, I decided to give it a watch after seeing your video.. and then I couldn't sleep. It got under my skin and every shadow and shape in my bedroom freaked me out, having to go to the bathroom terrified me for fear of what might be standing in the dimmness, but most of all a pall of loneliness and sadness settled on me. I'm not sure I could watch it again, but it certainly is a masterpiece. Thank you!
Thank you for this brilliant examination of a genuinely great movie. I have just one tiny quibble; no comment on the haunting combination of sound and imagery immediately following the closing credits? When I watched the movie, I actually felt a sense of relief as the credits came to an end, that the worst was over. But then...
So fucking glad there are other people out there that get this movie! So many say this nothing and it's boring. Each to their own ofc, but it is great to hear my feelings about LM be layed out perfectly like this. Instant sub.
This movie lives rent free in my head. It's so disturbing and sad and creepy and just /shivers
You always inspire me to create for the hell of it. I often get in my head a lot about being able to "justify" learning/doing a new art skill. Your videos reignite that innate artistic curiosity. Always excited to see a new video from you
That's incredibly kind of you to say and makes me very glad to hear. Thanks for all the support and I hope you pursue what it is you want to
The existential horror is the scariest type of this genre. The questions of life and death and what comes with them are the most difficult and terrifying to me. This movie is really amazing.
A beautifully melancholic rumination on death and its effects that haunts the mind with the aching uncertainties that exist ever after, leaving a question that can never be solved, only accepted.
That final sequence when their visions link together is freaking insane. I don’t know how the director came up with that and made it work so well. Absolutely amazing.
I feel like the final scene of this movie was a huge missed opportunity. For the whole movie they'd been training us the audience to look for ghosts in the background of photos by slowly zooming in on the ghost in question. And they just repeated the zoom-in for the final ghost of the final photo shown in the final scene. They shouldn't have zoomed in that one last time. They'd trained us to look for the ghost on our own. So why zoom in on the ghost.? Let us find it on our own, it's scarier that way when the movie doesn't hold your hand and lead you to the scare
Wouldn’t have worked
@@danbh84 yea some audiences need their hand held and a PowerPoint presentation to single out the ghost I guess.
Or, they could have made the final ghost a bit more noticeable in the window behind the family and just left it at that. Let our brains (those of us that understood the movie) do the zooming in.
And then skip the credits sequence which shows the ghost hiding in multiple pics and vids because it's a plothole anyway and it also felt a bit hacky. Like if the shining had spent its credits zooming in on 8 different oldtimey photos hanging on the walls of the Hotel to show Jack smiling in each photo
one of the things that made this movie particularly tense was the fact that all of the characters had slight cues to suggest that maybe *they* were responsible for her death, or knew more than they were letting on (the boyfriend, as a main example, with his slight smirk when talking about her).
then the pictures during the credits? Good Lord
[SPOILER] also, the bit at the end where the Mum picks up that piece of cable or whatever and walks into the back of the house made me really think she was going to off herself.
I saw Lake Mungo a few months back, and I gotta say, the movie was extremely unsettling. I'm always fond of movies that REALLY use the visual medium and reward the viewer for looking around the frame. It Follows and Long Legs were good in this way too.
Easily my fav horror RUclipsr and I took your advice. Paused this video went and watched the film and came back and boy am I glad I did what an amazing recommendation!
Evan, u nailed this. Just makes me want to watch Lake Mungo again. I found it deeply disturbing and sad. Loved your long-awaited review dude
This is an alltimer for me. I love it! The crushing feeling of sadness and loneliness it creates is utterly facinating to me!
Thank you for this video. It is so good to hear from someone who felt the same, as you say, 'visceral reaction,' to this film as I did. It was so satisfying to hear you use the same language as I after experiencing this piece of art. 'Dread', is an important word for this film. I, too, keep rewatching Lake Mungo. It lives in my head as a deeply sad and haunting work. I recommend it carefully, as it is not for everyone. Thank you for highlighting all the amazing facets of Lake Mungo, including the music and use of small details in the storytelling. Even now, thinking about some of the scenes crushes me a little.
Today: See’s a notification from Rocklin Graves with the thumbnail reading ‘Lake Mungo’ (thinks - must watch this later), at lunch a family member mentions catching up at Mungo when they’re back on the mainland (triggered), starts watching your video and dutifully pauses at the 4min mark to not spoil. Proceeds to watch movie, then watch your review & I followed along with your observations
*Spoiler alert*
A. I agree with you in the way this found footage/mockumentary was done, I actually mid way paused it to double check it wasn’t legit found footage (I know that makes me sound naive but HELL did they make it believable) I genuinely think the slow pacing helped here.
To the above, even though I am from Victoria in Australia, I didn’t recognise any of the actors (helped with realism)
B. I agree with liking Russell so much, again his character felt real. I always ask “if I genuinely thought I saw a ghost, would you believe me?” And people say ‘yes’ EVEN if they themselves are sceptics. This is AGONISINGLY rare across the horror/mystery genre < which is why they always seem unrealistic. Refreshingly, this film didn’t follow that painful trope.
C. The ‘Toohey’ tape twist shocked me, and reminded me of a true crime story (can’t remember where) but where someone was living in the house unknown to the new homebuyers. Though no sexual things were in that case, just the concept of someone else lurking in your house (explains all the bumps in the night). Though this plot twist was great, I didnt give it as much kudos as you - given how quickly it was closed down with no resolve. It does as you conclude hark back to the overarching undertone of ‘keeping secrets’ which is eluded to gently throughout the movie until now. I also watched this on RUclips so had no idea who was actually in that sex tape and for a minute there genuinely thought it was the minors which would have been an absolutely horrific plot twist.
D. Absolutely didn’t pick up that Russell’s vision was Matthew’s footage! For a bit there I was led to think maybe Matthew had been being a bit of a creeper. Good shout.
E. I didn’t watch the ending credits until your video and CRUD, that was some epic misdirection. Reminder to always watch the credits.
Closing thoughts: Your interpretation and the way you closed out this movie, with her loneliness only being exacerbated in death, and your thoughts, makes me want to watch this again (today) with mum. Now I’ve seen it plus your review, I’m… feeling those feelings you’re putting down.
Thank you SO much for pouring your heart and soul into this, it made me re-consider my first viewing and I am actually excited to watch it again to absorb more.
Legend as always.
this movie had so many moments where it built such an eerie atmosphere. The b-roll shots of the empty house with the music ambience sent me to a place of terror. One of my favorite horror films forsure!
For me it was the dual visions of mother and daughter at the end that scared me. The idea of being left alone and invisible and out of reach of your loved ones broke my heart
I watched this movie years ago as a DVD rental. I watch a lot of horror movies so I'm not usually easily scared. This movie really gave me the creeps. After it was over, I just sat there terrified and couldn't move. I was wishing I had not watched it while I was alone at home. I haven't watched the movie again since! Haunting long after the movie is over.
This is so eerie, because I'd never even *heard* of this movie before... until two days ago, when I watched a _"Scariest Found Footage Horror Movies Iceberg"_ video (pretty sure it was on Poi's channel, if I'm not mistaken). And I thought to myself, “Well, *that* sounds intriguing” ...but I haven't actually got around to watching it... *yet;* though it certainly has been in the back of my mind ever since.
And now, tonight, your video randomly shows up on my homepage.
_Coincidence...? Or fate...?_
(It's absolutely coincidence... probably. _Maybe...?_ Uhh... yeah... probably... 👻)
Update after you watch it 🤔
@@acrellama I watched it! It was really good! Very, very sad, though 😢
What would you like to know?
@@justinburchette thoughts on Alice's spirit trapped in a cycle of resentment like some kind of japanese onryo (iirc tho it's also based on Australian aboriginal beliefs) and oh- the credit sequence!
@@acrellama Well, let me ask you this: What makes you think her spirit is trapped in a cycle of resentment...? I didn't get that impression from her at all, really; it never felt like there was any lingering resentment there... just a lot of sadness. Sadness, and regret. Those are the two primary feelings I got from her.
I can relate to that (and to her) a lot, actually... unfortunately... 😔
Also, what _about_ the credit sequence? I don't know what you're referring to... 🤔
@@justinburchette for me, sadness and resentment are interlinked but that might be more of me resenting her mom for being emotionally distant. Oh yeah, one thing's for sure, there's definitely sadness. When the movie ends, there's a sequence of photos that zooms into her real ghost, not the doctored "ghost" photos her brother did
This was such a pleasant surprise for me when I first saw it. The genuine humanity, meditation, and mystery of it just inspire a specific type of dread and unease. The dedication to the storytelling form makes it that successful. The footage from her phone and the picture reveals made me so uneasy, and it was the true final tightening of the grip the rest of the film had on me.
I'm not the least bit surprised that this movie resonated so profoundly with Mike Flanagan. Nell came to mind immediately after we saw what Alice saw and I watched Lake Mungo for the first time years after watching Hill House. I'm quite affected by the idea of cyclical haunting because there's just no escape when it's just you. This kind of cold, lonely, grief-laden horror will always get to me because it reminds me that I'll feel it for real someday.
Lake Mungo is such an inspired, perfectly pitched film, impeccably directly and extremely well-acted. I wish Joel Anderson would try to capture lightning in a bottle again.
I’m with you. This story I horribly haunting. I’m glad this was just art. Transcendental
I love this film so so much. it’s a true emotional exploration where characters are laid bare to each other but continue looking past one another in a way that centers their interpretation of events. I think that’s what elevates the underlying tragedy of Alice’s death. As in life, people chose to view her only within the context of their thoughts and feelings toward her, but she was an entire person whether they chose to acknowledge that or not. the revelations that came through about Alice as the film carried on make sense when you realize no one gave her as much attention in life as they did in death. anyway I’m yapping but your video was delightfully insightful and emotionally resonant :) thanks so much for sharing !
I've been waiting on your take on this one for awhile now! I'm so seldom actually scared by movies, but this one got to me... to the point that I actually got goosebumps watching you recap the movie. I've tried repeatedly to put my finger on why this one disturbs me so much, and the closest I can come is that what Alice sees in that one scene made me realize on an emotional level that I am going to die. Something bad is going to happen to me... it hasn't caught up to me yet, but it's coming. It just ratcheted up my existential dread to the level that when I finished it my first thought was, "I wish I never saw this." I can't fathom anything worse than Alice seeing the physical representation of her own upcoming death. It gives me the creeps just thinking about it. The other part, for me, is that it made me contemplate how we leave our dead behind, no matter how much we love them. We have to move past them. They become something that belongs to the past. If I came downstairs tomorrow and saw my late grandparents sitting at the table, my first feeling would be terror- because I know they don't belong here anymore. Alice alone and lonely and unseen in the past while her family moves on to the rest of their lives is just profoundly sad and disconcerting. It's just such a profound meditation on grieving and existential dread and it seems like when it clicks for someone, it really clicks. I get that it doesn't work for everyone, I have friends who were bored to tears by this film. But for me, it lives rent-free in my head in a way that nothing else ever has.
Pure existential dread. Absolutely terrifying feeling we get watching this movie. And yet, so many people don’t feel that and cannot even comprehend it. Crazy.
I kept hearing how great this one was, so was super eager to finally watch it. Sadly, it didn't scare me. It didn't even unnerve me, but I still liked it. It was a great film - a solid slow-burn with exceptional attention to detail. Though I do wish it scared me like it apparently does so many others.
I completely agree with you - I went in ready for a horror flick - instead, I was dragged backwards through a deeply emotional experience surrounding loss. I mean - I loved it. Still do. Just didn't experience it as a horror film at all.
I had a very creepy feeling of dread watching this movie. Very unsettling
I didnt find the movie frightening, but i found it engaging and haunting in a sad way. A couple of sequences did make me feel extremely uneasy (the corpse, the shot of the neighbor crouched in the room, etc.)
The fact that I had to hide in the comments, as this jumpscare came up, says a lot. For me its the most terrifying movie I have watched so far.
the idea of knowing you're going to die before you do hit me so hard. my late boyfriend passed suddenly at 24 in 2016, leading up to that he'd always tell me he had a sense that he'd die first and would ask me what i would do if he did die. it's like he knew his death was going to happen with no signs of it
To me Lake Mungo expresses "death" before death. Intense feeling of I wouldn't say abandonment but being pushed to the side, around but just ignored until things are too late. I'm not saying that it was her own actions specifically though.
I saw Lake Mungo just months after its release on a website called Fear Itself. I was on a first date and we had thought it would be a fun little time together before getting busy, but we were RIVETED to the screen instead, and we just talked about the movie for hours after it had ended.
Lake Mungo is easily top 3 horror films for me.
You went on a first date, and you both discussed that you'd watch this before getting busy?
@@MMAFightMagazinedoing the nasty
what are the other two
@@trump_reyiz do the business, do the deed?
@@jactrich no I mean which are his other top 3 horror films
While I didn't find the movie to be frightening it had a similar feel to one that did leave me affected and that stayed with me in a way similar to what you have described. That movie was "The Others". Ghost stories don't seem to scare me often but The Others hit a part of my psyche that left me traumatised. Kidman's performance was astonishing and for personal reasons it brought up childhood memories and feelings that I'd log since forgotten or rather just left behind.
I've seen other people praise The Others but I don't think that I've heard anyone say that it had anything like the impact it had on me. Lake Mungo had someof that spooky magic but not to the same extent, for me.
Beautifully acted, well written and haunting in the most existential way possible.
The actors deserve so much credit for the raw portrayal of a family torn apart by silence in life and death.
Hands down the best video I’ve ever seen about this movie, you perfectly described everything that makes this movie genuinely one of the most effective explorations of greif. So worth the wait thank you truly for covering this movie.
Damn thank you so much. I really appreciate that