I thought it only right to kick off October with a horror-based review, and you can expect that theme to continue throughout the month. This is a blog post about three things really. First of all, it is about the film that inspired it, Lake Mungo (2008). Secondly, it is about horror films and why I love them above all other genres of film. And finally, it is about why film recommendations, even indirectly are so important. We will start with that third part. The only reason I had any knowledge or interest in this film is because it was mentioned in a Red Letter Media YouTube where one of the members of the channel mentioned it as being one of the more effective horror films they had seen in recent times. Now, this on its own did not make me race out to see the film, but it planted it in my brain, and when I noticed it was available to stream, I did make a point to watch it. And I feel like this word of mouth is important in both finding and championing films you wouldn’t tend to consider watching. And I am guilty of this myself. I often play safe with what films I watch and if it wasn’t for word of mouth, I hate to think how many films I would have missed out on, including the film of today which is an absolute gem.
All I knew of this film going in was that it was shot as a faux documentary, but I had no real idea of the narrative or anything else surrounding the film. The narrative follows the Palmer family in the aftermath of the daughter, Alice (Talia Zucker), being found having drowned in a lake. Shot as a talking head documentary, we follow the family through their initial grief, into much more disturbing waters when they believe that the ghost of Alice is in their house. So, it is a really simple premise, and it is also really simple executed. On a technical level having the film be like a talking heads documentary means that the narrative is mostly told through interview segments, and there isn’t a massive need for any intricate camera work or composition. It is a film made up of still shots of the family being interviewed and home movies shot by the family members. Even the way the narrative plays out is super simple and plays up the faux-documentary style. It isn’t bombastic or in your face (no jump scares to be found here) and it even sets you up for the scares with introductory interviews and music cues. And yet I think it is the simplicity of the film that makes it work so well. There is a realistic feel to it, while also having a narrative that does keep growing and adding layers to it to keep you engaged, and this makes all the scares much more effective. And it does what all really good horror films do, and it scares you. I feel like I have built a thick skin from horror films, but this one got right underneath it. It is genuinely eerie, genuinely creepy, and genuinely scary and it achieves this in a way that I love. I love when horror films keep the horror somewhat hidden, by having it appear in the corner of the frame, or concealed in shadow, only able to be noticed if you really look, and this film executes this kind of scare superbly. I don’t often find myself rushing to turn the light on after a film and this one had me bolting from my desk to the light switch.
And it is for that reason that I love horror films, or at last why I love the good ones. I can’t think of another genre of film that elicits such a physical and emotional reaction from me as consistently and effectively as horror does. It is an adrenaline rush, an opportunity to get my fight or flight instincts running without ever putting myself in any real danger and I just love it. Even just writing about them know I am almost frantic with excitement. And it all started, at least in my memory, with The Shining (1980). I watched that film with my parents and older sister when I was 13 and it scared the living daylights out of me. I remember lying in bed afterwards for what seemed like hours unable to close my eyes as I was so scared to do so. And I think it is in situations like that where you are either completely put off horror films forever or you are looking for that same feeling over again, and I fully landed on the latter. And from then it was nonstop. I would watch as many horror films as I could, I wrote essays on them for college, I would watch YouTube videos of clips from horror films or reviews of films which I would then seek out. And this has pretty much continued to this day, picking up full force again in the last couple of years. And although I have watched a lot of crap horror films in my time, when I do find a film like Lake Mungo that really affects me the way a good horror movie should it is a great feeling. Am I weird for loving horror this much? Maybe. But I am definitely not alone. And now that we have reached October I can watch and write about them with a contextual backup to make it seem like less of an obsession.
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