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Lake Mungo
Ignorance can be useful. After hearing some recommendations, I checked out Lake Mungo. I knew nothing about the film other than the title and that it was an Australian horror. From this scant information, I theorised that it would be an outback monster film, perhaps like Rogue or Primal, or a hickspoiltation like Wolf Creek. As a result, I was unprepared for the blend of documentary footage, news reports and found footage that constitutes the movie. The narrative and aesthetic had me believing I was watching a documentary about a bereaved family and the possibility of a haunting, one that was both melancholic and unsettling.
The copious found footage, especially the son of the family being into photography, seemed rather convenient. However, it makes sense that the film was only made because of this available material, the director learning about a family who had suffered a bereavement and had footage that suggested haunting. Note that I was attempting to rationalise what I was watching knowing nothing other than what the film showed me. Therefore, the film persuaded me that it was at least plausible, and I provided explanations for myself to further this plausibility. This makes Lake Mungo an interesting example of how our minds work in relation to what we see. How much is what we see, and how much is what we want to see? This is a potent parallel for alleged encounters with the supernatural.
Furthermore, Lake Mungo combines talking heads with the images captured by the family to create a genuinely eerie and uncanny atmosphere. It was somewhat like Paranormal Activity but less arrestingly terrifying, yet still scary. It wasn’t until after the film that I checked whether this was an actual documentary, and interestingly the answer made no difference to my response to the film – everything it presented made sense. The ideas expressed were persuasive and the possibilities ambiguous enough to work either way. It is a film that raises fascinating questions about how we view what we see, and what we can keep our eyes out for.
Ghost Stories
If you’re like me, you’ll remember Paul Whitehouse doing advertisements for a major insurance company. On the other hand, if you’re like me you’re a postdoctoral researcher with various publications and your own film review blog – what’s that all about? Anyway, in Ghost Stories, Paul Whitehouse makes reference to his advertising background when his character Tony Matthews complains that talking to paranormal debunker Professor Goodman (Andy Nyman) is like getting an insurance quote. But ask questions is what Goodman does, as he demonstrates that the supernatural is merely smoke and mirrors for charlatans who exploit the gullible. Ghost Stories, adapted from the stage play and directed by Nyman and Jeremy Dyson, presents an anthology of Goodman’s investigations, as he is challenged by his idol to take on three cases that cannot be solved by normal debunking practices. The mysteries of the various stories are intriguing and their presentation genuinely scary, as the directors handle the tropes of horror effectively. Deep shadow and suggestive shapes as well as unexpected sounds occupy the film’s wide angled, deep focus shots, allowing for sinister movements in the frame. There is also a pleasing variety between the stories, locations ranging from an abandoned building to a forest road and an opulent but empty house. The conceit of haunting pervades the entire film, both in terms of the individual stories and the wraparound narrative. Particular visual and auditory tropes recur throughout the drama, haunting Goodman and the viewer alike. The film is at its strongest when it suggests and implies, playing on fears and imagination. Explanation and clarification undermine the fears at times, and the experience is not as disturbing as it might have been, largely thanks to perhaps excessive resolution. But Ghost Stories is still an effective and engaging chiller, offering skin crawling suspense as well as major jump scares.
Vincent's Views 