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Lake Mungo - (2008)
How on earth did I now know about this movie? Lake Mungo is my kind of thing - creepy in exactly the right kind of way and very clever in the way it goes about building atmosphere without overplaying it's hand. The cards this mock-documentary deals out at the start aren't exactly all that they appear to be at first, and there's much sleight of hand, but the disorientation you feel has already taken your mind to an unsettled place, which this film will exploit to terrifying effect. So many horror films become goofy because they feel the need to go a little too far, but Lake Mungo, much like 'found footage' films such as Willow Creek and The Blair Witch Project, feels grounded. When their daughter, Alice (Talia Zucker), drowns in an accident at an Ararat dam in Victoria, parents June (Rosie Traynor) and Russell (David Pledger) try to make sense of the strange events that start occurring, leading to a series of discoveries that shine a light on the life Alice lived, and it's many secrets. The final reveal spooked the hell out of me, and for that I tip my hat, but Lake Mungo is an excellent film overall. Joel Anderson, who has never made another feature before or since, put this together with a deft hand. Jordan Peele is on record as saying this is one of the films that has scared him the most - and I believe him, for it did the same to me.
8/10
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Ghostwatch - (1992)
In 1938 Orson Welles created some controversy for himself by staging a War of the Worlds radio play that used the same template the found footage and faux documentary genres would years later - ie, it was purported to be real. The idea goes back further, for example the 1897 Bram Stoker novel Dracula, which instead of 'found footage' was 'found documents/letters' purporting to be real and simply allayed to the reader. During the early 90s the BBC decided to try this out with Ghostwatch, a kind of faux-reality TV show which at first appears to be of the familiar kooky and innocent kind until all hell breaks loose, people start calling in from all over England reporting activity and even the studio is overwhelmed by the paranormal. Well known figures like Michael Parkinson, Sarah Greene, Mike Smith and Craig Charles gave it a veneer of realness, and for those who missed the various "this is fiction" signifiers it was particularly hair-raising. Howling cats, apparitions and some horrifying stories told by locals add to the spook factor - and it deserves credit for pre-dating Blair Witch Project, which came much later in the decade. Now and then it gets a little flaky/crazy, and there was never any danger acting awards were going to be snared by anyone involved, but it goes about what it does the right way and you do get a sense of unease during the slow descent into madness.
6/10
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