Girls, gores, and miscellaneous horror fans, you know I don’t like to make any sweeping statements. Well, not all the time, anyway. But I’ve recently re-watched a horror classic that I realized I have never dedicated a full article to on this here blog, and I want to make that right here and now. Spoilers ahead!
When it comes to horror about grief, there are so many slices of downright brilliance across the many sub-genres that populate this side of cinema – so much so that picking an all-in-one best is basically impossible. But if I had to put a pin it in, I think I would have to say it’s Joel Anderson’s 2008 mockumentary psychological horror Lake Mungo.
Following an Australian family as they navigate the drowning death of their daughter and sister, Alice, Lake Mungo starts as what seems to be a desperate attempt by Alice’s surviving brother to capture proof that she’s still with them in some spiritual form, but what it splays out into is so much bigger than that.
There’s so much good stuff to say about Lake Mungo, it’s hard to know where to start: the amazing acting from the cast, with mostly-improvised interviews forming much of the backbone of the narrative; the restrained direction and visual style that blends the family’s grief with their desperate attempts to find meaning or sense in their daughter’s passing; the iconic image of Alice’s vision of herself before her drowning. It’s a slow, thoughtful movie, committing to the almost dirge-like weight of grief that’s consumed Alice’s surviving family, one that trusts the skill of the actors to sell the emotion enough to keep things compelling when the mysteries seem to be solved.
But I think what makes Lake Mungo stand out as well as it does is the dreamlike way it moves between reality and fiction, what the family hopes for and what they’re faced with in the aftermath of the teenage Alice’s death. There’s the chilling supernatural story, of course, but there’s also the very real sexual exploitation Alice suffered at the hands of their once-trusted neighbours to contend with. The balance between real, palpable horror and the strange haunting Alice enacts on her family blurs the line between metaphor, fiction, and reality in a way I don’t think any other film has – capturing that unreality of grief and contending with the life that’s been left behind in the wake of an unexpected death, a blend of magical thinking and the harsh reality of the life they lived.
It’s truly an incredible piece of cinema, that finally seems to be getting the love it deserves as horror comes further and further into the prestige cinematic mainstream. Have you seen Lake Mungo? Where does it rank on the grand list of horror greats for you – if it ranks there at all? Let me know in the comments!
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By Lou MacGregor
(header image via OC Weekly)
No But Listen 