Wednesday, June 4, 2014

Lake Mungo (2008)

About 3:00 AM today I woke up suddenly and for no apparent reason. As you do sometimes.

I tossed and turned for a bit, not quite able to get the comfort level I had when I first crawled into bed. When I finally found the right space, right angle, right amount of pillow fluff I was more awake then I wanted to be.

DANG IT

This is when the brain starts working when it shouldn't. Much like our cats. You mill around in the middle of the night too much and they think it's food time. You must be stealthy about these things or else face the heinous busy brain and hungry cat consequences.

So there I was, brain beginning to do it's gear turning when suddenly Lake Mungo popped into my head.


What the hell?! Where did you come from?

And you know, I don't care for this film being referred to as a "Mockumentary Horror". When I hear mockumentary, I think silly - something that is tongue-in-cheek. That is not the case with this movie, although it's filmed in a Documentary style, so I see where the confusion comes in. Weirdos.

In any case, I do not call this one a mockumentary horror - it's a sad, unnerving, heartbreaking, and spooky horror show. Slow? Yes. Requires full attention? Yes. But at no time whatsoever did I find myself chuckling at it's cleverness.  That said, it is clever - it's just that the pieces only come together at the Very End of the film. So, you must be patient too, my dears.

I actually watched this film nearly a year and a half ago. Long time to finally write a review about it but I figured since it popped into my head at 3:00 in the morning - proceeded to think about it for about an hour - I might as well use that time spent to construct a review from what I remember.

I began to watch the film with a ho-hum and very little expectations, then I got a little confused (yet intrigued) about where this story was going, but by the end I shivered at what I had just seen and clumsily plopped into the nearest chair, perplexed about what I had to process.

Things I actually said: "What Just Happened!?! What in the world was that?"

This is a movie about grief, and the myriad ways in which humans process it. This is also a downright chilling ghost story. And this is also a movie about I Have No Proper Category To Put This one. The characters were believable and sympathetic, the scenery haunting, and the mystery that unfolds therein holds a handsome amount of shock value. I quite enjoyed it.

Why Lake Mungo crawled out of the crevasses of my brain, knock on the back of my eyeballs and then sit and chat with me at a most inopportune time, I have no idea.

But let this be a lesson! Lake Mungo may do the very same to you...

Recommended pairing: Picnic stuff, liquor stolen from your parents locked cabinet.

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