I'm a big fan of Australian horror movies. I don't like a lot of things they do but horror is one of the few exceptions. 'Lake Mungo' was a very frustrating film for me. There was so much to like about, so much that it did well, and yet for every stride forward it took, it seemed to take two backwards. It was its own worst enemy. Unfortunately I have to go into some spoilers in order to explain the things I didn't like about the film.
First of all the twist about the photos being doctored by the brother. Why did it need to be there? What did it add to the film? All it did was deflate the well created tension to that point. I assume it was so they could hit you with the one-two punch later in the film that it was actually all real (what a remarkable coincidence!) but I didn't like that addition to the film at all.
The other thing that let me down was that twice the film set itself to take my breathe away and both times it struck out. The first time was when the neighbour was found to be in the house. That alone was truly unnerving and could have led down so many creepy roads. But instead it just turned out she was having an affair with the neighbours and that storyline went absolutely nowhere.
Then, late in the piece a plot element arrives where we learn something has happened to 'Alice' at 'Lake Mungo'. Now obviously considering they decided to name the film after this location it must be something pretty massive right? Well it was and it wasn't. It was arguably the biggest moment in the film, and yet it really wasn't enough to justify naming the movie after that I thought. It implied that what happened there was the be-all end-all. Maybe they just couldn't think of a title and decided to go with that, I'm not sure. But I feel that moment would have been a lot more powerful if the movie wasn't named after that location.
Don't think it's all negative though, there were actually a lot of very strong elements to the film. It was suitably creepy in spots, the endless photos were well created and kept you on edge and the big moment that happens at 'Lake Mungo' will stick with you for a while. I just can't help feeling it could have been something great.
First of all the twist about the photos being doctored by the brother. Why did it need to be there? What did it add to the film? All it did was deflate the well created tension to that point. I assume it was so they could hit you with the one-two punch later in the film that it was actually all real (what a remarkable coincidence!) but I didn't like that addition to the film at all.
The other thing that let me down was that twice the film set itself to take my breathe away and both times it struck out. The first time was when the neighbour was found to be in the house. That alone was truly unnerving and could have led down so many creepy roads. But instead it just turned out she was having an affair with the neighbours and that storyline went absolutely nowhere.
Then, late in the piece a plot element arrives where we learn something has happened to 'Alice' at 'Lake Mungo'. Now obviously considering they decided to name the film after this location it must be something pretty massive right? Well it was and it wasn't. It was arguably the biggest moment in the film, and yet it really wasn't enough to justify naming the movie after that I thought. It implied that what happened there was the be-all end-all. Maybe they just couldn't think of a title and decided to go with that, I'm not sure. But I feel that moment would have been a lot more powerful if the movie wasn't named after that location.
Don't think it's all negative though, there were actually a lot of very strong elements to the film. It was suitably creepy in spots, the endless photos were well created and kept you on edge and the big moment that happens at 'Lake Mungo' will stick with you for a while. I just can't help feeling it could have been something great.