The Most Terrifying Movie I've Ever Seen

[@stephaniecragg6350]

I saw a comment somewhere about this film saying, 'to be so completely alone you have no one to haunt but yourself'.. I'm heartbroken for weeks every time I watch this film

[@farttruster8715]

So stop watching it retard, it’s ass

[@Talia.777]

She was loved by her family and friends, she wasn't a lonely person... Don't you think?!

[@plantemor]

​@@Talia.777 the entire point of the novice is that this girl kept many secrets and hid her true thoughts and feelings from people around her. Have you ever heard of the concept of being lonely in a crowd? Yes she was loved, but she was also emotionally isolated and this emotional isolation became physical in death.

[@Talia.777]

@@plantemor Yeah, agreed 👍

[@Chris-ft2yx]

@@plantemor literally nobody got that from this film except for your woo woo hippie ass. anyways i personally think its about appreciating your weird ass family. this is coming from a triple D student that took 3 acting classes for fun at Harvard

[@wanderinghistorian]

I've watched multiple videos on Lake Mungo and it always surprises me that no one seems to recognize what Alice saw. It was her doppelganger (also more horrifyingly called a "fetch"). While the term has come to mean other things, the original idea of the doppelganger was that it was an apparition that looks exactly like you, but in death. Once you see your doppelganger, you don't have much longer to live. Alice's encounter at lake Mungo is a textbook doppelganger encounter.

[@renaticoleman324]

So THAT'S where she went wrong. Even though we were warned against it, Alice actually made "fetch" happen

[@marybedward9381]

I think IT scary

[@abigaileldritch]

@kfenrislMyths don’t have to be real to be referenced in movies with impact. You can not believe in these things being real and still understand the impact and reference, it still has purpose and meaning.

[@daegannlongstrider1293]

@renaticoleman324 Hey, don't be Mean, Girl. 😄

[@TwilightsSprite]

Super interesting! Thanks for posting!

[@zack6736]

the end credits with showing the photos that she was actually there SHOOK me

[@OlimpiaOlimpia]

Same, it was that fear that comes from your stomach, it's visceral.

[@knightshiningarmour]

Annoyingly disturbing! edits of a fake ghost to make it seem like she was there while she was actually there the whole time is UNNERVING

[@ChaoticNeutral00]

The thing that scared me about Alice in the photos is that she's not even doing anything. She's just looking at the family/camera, as if she's feeling left out and wants to join them or smth

[@AforART3]

the lake mungo scene where Alice comes face to face with her future dead corpse to me is the most unnerving scene made to me especially once i rewatched it and noticed the corpse actually swaying slightly back and forth and interpreted it as if the corpse were the one walking up on Alice and not the other way around. It still gets me

[@Dvgteeth]

I always assumed the corpse WAS the one walking up on Alice.

[@mistermoo7602]

It is too bad the tension built in that scene is ruined by their stupid stuck camera freeze effect. I couldn't believe that they finally had a creepy scene set up but just couldn't help themselves and sabotaged it.

[@mii481]

I always saw it as them walking and passing eachother, That scene though, oh man, will haunt me forever.

[@Lt.Commander_Data]

I've loved this movie since it came out, fast-forward to like last year when I was so happy to re-watch it and was drunk as hell and I had totally forgot this shot/"Jumpscare" of her bloating rotting corpse's face. Nearly shit myself because the entire rest of the movie is a vide.

[@Geehbee22]

That scene made me scream... I've never screamed from from a movie before lol

[@Garfunkels_Funky_Uncle]

Three things about this movie that get to me: The Actor playing the Dad nails how I've seen Fathers act in documentaries about a missing/dead child. It's never made clear if the sex tape was made before OR after what happened at Lake Mungo at the end of the credits, we see the silhouette of the doppelganger at Lake Mungo again in a flash of lightning.

[@cyrillesu]

The tape was before the incident. It's been heavily implied that Alice has been in that set up for years before she died, pretty much when she started babysitting the couple's kids.

[@Krosstic]

Wait you can see the fetch again in the credits?

[@ChrisDubss619]

I didnt even watch until the end credits, the room was dark and i was still on edge from the last scare 😅 so i turned it off and turned on all the lights

[@CyberWarezz05]

What exactly happened on that tape? Was it Alice and Brett and his wife? That's what I understood from it

[@ChrisDubss619]

@@CyberWarezz05 i believe so

[@levischorpioen]

This beautiful masterpiece is ultimately about loneliness to me. Alice was a very misunderstood soul who didn't seem to be seen by anyone. She wasn't missed by any of her friends when she went off on her own in Lake Mungo, her secret affair with the Peweys flew under everyone's radar and when she asked for help from her parents, well, it seemed like her parents just had better things to do. Both her mother and brother made up false narratives to help themselves get over this grief quicker (ironically while trying to help each other and trying to escape the truth, as the mother never wanted to see the remains and her brother doctored the footage) and her father threw himself into work. Severe loneliness, especially in kids her age, can often feel like there's no future. It honestly kinda feels like you're already dead. This is why I don't think we're supposed to take the seemingly supernatural element of the wonky timeline as literal, but instead as an analogy for how Alice and her family always seem to just miss out on properly connecting (which would also explain why Alice felt more comfortable in the affair, since this family DID notice her, albeit under irresponsible circumstances). The most tragic thing at all happens when the family finally learns to move on. They move away and Alice is left alone, again. Still misunderstood, still unacknowledged, still without the love of her family. What actually happened at Lake Mungo was never the point. Wanting that answer is understandable, but even asking the question makes the mystery about her death. People always seem so interested in the dead, but if we actually paid close attention to people while they're alive, maybe we can actually form a connection that will make life worthwhile. That's a life Alice never had, and that is ultimately why this film is so haunting to me. Alice was all alone in life, and now she's just as alone in death, with people holding onto ideas of who they thought she was, while never actually having paid any atttention to the reality of her.

[@sohren94]

Woah, this is how I interpreted it too, except you put it way more eloquently. Everything anyone knows about Alice is somewhat or entirely removed from *her* and that makes you wonder about your own life and whether people really know and understand *you*. I think that's what got the existential dread really going for me.

[@Rovou7]

This was so incredibly well written. Thank you.

[@egg_bun_]

@@sohren94 brilliant!!

[@friendofthechannel-i6i]

deeply said

[@katiekawaii]

Damn.

[@eenayeah]

I fucking hated the zooming in the pictures and just staying there for several seconds. Easily the top scariest moments for me in my whole horror media consumption life.

[@Gods_bane]

Glad someone loved it! I found the whole zoom in tactic to be tedious and the stupidest scare tactic ever employed in a scary movie. That scare tactic is all they try to scare off people and it failed miserably for me. But good for you ig.

[@WhiteTulip2002]

@@Gods_bane It’s a polarizing movie, no need to be so judgmental of OPs opinion. Less than 5 minutes into the video is a disclaimer about your experience being very subjective in this case, it’ll work for some and not others

[@Gods_bane]

@@WhiteTulip2002 I am not talking about the movie I am talking about the zoom in tactics. Also I don't mind people liking it. I ain't a spoil sport. I am just giving my opinion just like everyone else is doing on the thread.

[@Koroar]

I think it's fine in a film like this where the zoom in doesn't end with a jumpscare or anything cheap. It just zooms in on a still image and encourages you to search for what is hidden, builds a lot of tension

[@Gods_bane]

@@Koroar maybe it does for you, but there wasn't actually anything to search for, most of the images were clear enough.

[@edgyman-fk]

I didn't find Lake Mungo all that scary, but did for sure find it beautiful and moving. I absolutely adore it and wish it was more appreciated outside of our horror loving community

[@senpaiwilliam]

I was just about to comment this lmao

[@magzdilluh]

Oof, thank you I thought I was just utterly jaded

[@Dvgteeth]

It wasn’t scary to me, but hauntingly beautiful and devastatingly sad.

[@dolphinswilltakeover]

Yes I think it was endearing how the mother was coming to terms with the death of Alice, and as well as the part where Alice said she saw her mother in her dreams leaving the house. Sadly most of the good stuff was within the last 20 minutes.

[@leftjab6145]

I was going to say the same I don't get it lol it wasn't bad but not even unnerving a bit.

[@billjones5741]

That final sequence when their visions link together is freaking insane. I don’t know how the director came up with that and made it work so well. Absolutely amazing.

[@cosa_oscura]

For me it was the dual visions of mother and daughter at the end that scared me. The idea of being left alone and invisible and out of reach of your loved ones broke my heart

[@_Diesel]

I remember being terrified of the corpse scene of course, but also the slightly, jaggedly moving pixellated reflection of a face- the fact that we're hard-wired to see patterns in anything and everything, which can absolutely tie back into finding ghosts anywhere, this is why I will never look closely at shadows at night- and then being relieved that there was no ghost. Then feeling gutted by Alice's presence or memory being left behind, not sure if it's better or worse to think it's real or metaphorical. What a movie.

[@rasmusmadsen5898]

Watched this film 6 years ago and loved it, but never found the courage to go back to it. Existential dread combined with deep sorrow, it’s equally tragic and horrifying.

[@DeidreL9]

It put me into a state of liminal dissociation. Existential dread is right.

[@sheenasmith6634]

So many times I think I will watch it, and then I don't.

[@kimiki65]

I haven't gone back to it yet either, but this thread is tempting me big time. Loved it.

[@Rose-yt5hi]

I watched this movie close to 15 years ago thinking it was something else. I didn’t really understand what I was watching but I kept watching it anyway… and the end touched such a nerve that I 1) still think about it to this day, and 2) still haven’t watched it again to this day. Lmao.

[@Twenty-Seven]

This film gives me a feeling of terror, especially when the twist is revealed at the end and we go back through the photos and videos. It's an "achy" and sad feeling of fear. The loneliness, secrets, the nature of death, and a sprinkling of the supernatural.

[@katestrayer1825]

This movie made me cry AND scared the fuck out of me. The part where they’re doing the silent meditation and she says “she can’t see me” is just so bleak. She’s invisible to everyone else. Like can that just happen???????? I don’t wanna be stuck in purgatory where no one can interact or help me.

[@MilesToGoGo]

I just finished watching it and have tears in my eyes. It didn’t scare me but did make me so sad. Alice saying “I don’t think she knows I’m here” then they leave in the house omg I’m devastated

[@katestrayer1825]

@@MilesToGoGo oh so heartbreaking!!! Her family things they’re helping by moving on but noooooo

[@CodeRed001]

If that scares you, don't watch the short film Heck by Bitesized Nightmares on youtube. It's about a kid dying and getting stuck in purgatory.

[@saltcastles]

this was a great video. and i don't know if i'll ever be able to imagine anything scarier than seeing your own corpse walking up to you in the darkness. that scene made me physically ill with terror.

[@RocklinGraves]

Haha thank you!

[@cranberryrosebud]

There's something so jarring about it being in the middle of the desert, while the corpse is shown to have the effects of drowning. It feels so alien because the body is Alice after dying in a completely different environment, really an opposite environment from the one she's standing in - there's just an eeriness about it that really lends to the feeling that something's very wrong.

[@linasayshush]

This movie did scare the bejeesus out of me, but more than that it made me so, so sad. To think of Alice by herself in that house watching her family leave and they're sure that she's moved on. It was some kind of existential dread and sorrow that very few movies managed to make me feel. I'm never watching this movie again.

[@TheWholeEntireCake]

This is going to sound super lame, you know that book (and sequential movie adaptation) “The Lovely Bones”? She, a teen girl, gets SA and murdered by a creepy man and buried, her family doesn’t know she’s dead. The story is told from her perspective after death watching her family grieve and go on with their lives. I read that book, sobbed the entire time, it still haunts me and it’s been about 17-18 years since I read it. I almost couldn’t finish the book. I could never bring myself to watch the movie adaptation. I never will. That feeling of profound sadness, hopelessness, fear, the innate terror of watching your family after death, in your house, watching your family move on without you, from an omnipresent point of view. It’s similar to this movie, Lake Mungo.

[@chunellemariavictoriaespan8752]

Yup... And I just realised that's my dad's situation now... He died in that apartment unit I grew up in for the past 19 years. We were kicked out by the landowners after a strange episode. Now a new family lives there... And I can't help think... Maybe my dad's now there looking at this new family while wondering where we are now... When the last he has seen is us angry over his betrayal...

[@romeisburning6739]

​@@chunellemariavictoriaespan8752 I know you're a stranger on the internet and I don't know what you believe, but in Orthodox Christianity we teach that we can pray for the dead, that they may find peace. You should pray for your father. I will too.

[@cheesecake4648]

@@chunellemariavictoriaespan8752 almost same situation. we lived in that house for 46 years. my dad die and my mom decided to sell the house.

[@AndreaC_303]

It would be like seeing your dog again for the first time in weeks, so excited to hug and play with him, but he can’t see you. You’d think after the apparition she would have stayed as far away from Lake Mungo as humanly possible.

[@thisisclemfandango]

When watching Haunting of Hill House, as soon as episode 5 ended I knew instinctively that the writer must have seen Lake Mungo and been as fucked up by it as I was. It was clearly a source of inspiration for Nellie's fate. Pleased to know I was right!

[@plasmarey5856]

i agree. and kinda feel sad that haunting of hill house is so popular and lake mungo, the inspiration, isnt. but i still love both lol

[@zandershull]

I saw Hill House before lake Mungo and amusingly Hill House I just found reasonably spooky but somehow Lake Mungo scared me shitless despite not even being my first encounter with that concept.

[@sagebrown9099]

i wish so much that i had seen Lake Mungo before Hill House because Hill House kind of spoiled the effect for me once i realized what was happening in Lake Mungo. especially since Lake Mungo presented the concept in a more "mature" and subtle way. so frustrated i didn't find out about the movie until this year!

[@souljawitchh]

the corpse was walking towards Alice not standing. which makes it so much more terrifying.

[@RocklinGraves]

I'm pretty sure it's just standing there

[@souljawitchh]

@@RocklinGravesits not. if you put it in slow motion you can see the arms moving like its walking

[@souljawitchh]

@kfenrisl wdym get over yourself im just explaining why i think that 😂 + many others have noted it thats why i noticed it

[@abigaileldritch]

@@RocklinGraves​​⁠not only are the arms swinging, but the voice over says “at some point this figure came towards her out of the darkness”

[@TheEggOfRandomIdeas]

@kfenrisl"ntoe ven"? We may not be blind, but you may be blind to the keyboard.

[@93komuso]

Having lost my little sister to a tragic accident when she was 17, this movie hit me hard. It's an incredibly good movie though, as tragic and raw as it is.

[@ajtp1349]

This movie is either deeply disturbing to you or the most boring thing you’ve ever watched. It’s very divisive. I find it painfully dull personally

[@kingly.]

It’s really interesting to me how differently people experience discomfort and fear. Just like how people can be terrified of mice but not scared of the dark.

[@melliethemortician]

This! I found it to be horribly boring but my sister, who watched it with me, was too scared to sleep by herself for a whole week after. Meanwhile I love The Conjuring/The Nun and she finds them to be boring and cliche.

[@allansko2668]

@@melliethemortician I wonder if your good self and dear @kingly. here would ever feel different if you watched it at a different time in your life. Agree that it's a film that hits hard or not at all, and I'm fascinated by whether there's a particular reason for that. I share a similar opinion to our esteemed Mr Graves, but completely understand why others find it dull!

[@spacequack5470]

+1 on painfully dull

[@JeantheSecond-ip7qm]

It didn’t scare me. (Movies don’t scare me.) But I thought it was fantastic. It has an engaging emotional story about family and grief with some fun eeriness and mysteries. I loved it and have watched it many times. I’m easily bored too.

[@mersaulte]

Thank YOU! I have SO much more to say about this. I feel so so sorry for those who put this down as "oh, God, that stupid movie with THAT "ONE" jump scare, and i wonder if they saw the same movie we did. i love LOVE FF and this one reminds me a lot of The Last Broadcast, not quite the same but... maybe you saw that. GOOD stuff.

[@keiththorpe9571]

I completely agree with you, Lake Mungo is one of the most effectively unnerving, even haunting mockumentary-style horror movies I've ever seen.

[@MilesToGoGo]

Truly the best acting I’ve ever seen in this type of format. This could absolutely pass as a real documentary everyone in it was THAT good

[@daniellewillis2767]

Ever seen Noroi? Great double feature with this.

[@omgmacy]

The one I'll never rewatch and has haunted me for years now has been The Poughkeepsie Tapes..... There was stuff I thought I liked that I can never even hear without it making me wanna puke

[@keiththorpe9571]

@@omgmacy Oh Hell, I think I blocked that one out of my memory. That was terrible...but very effective.

[@omgmacy]

@@keiththorpe9571 I tell my friends that's a movie that was extremely effective horrifying movie that id never watch with anyone or recommend it to anyone

[@ladybirdg5658]

I remember some people recommending this after Skinamarink came out. I decided to watch a video essay or two beforehand to see if I'd like it, and honestly this is the video that sold me. Your empathetic perspective really shows that you're invested in the story Lake Mungo is telling moreso than how "scary" or entertaining it is. I've since watched the film and it's honestly become one of my favorite movies. Alice's deep, bleak depression and grief really speak to me. A lot of people meme on her "I feel like something bad is going to happen" monologue, but her diary entry where she describes crying at her parents' bed haunts me. When she said "I realized there was nothing more they could do for me," it changed something in me permanently because I know that feeling. I coexist with that feeling every day of my life. I love stories about teenage girls and young women who are suffering--I LOVE watching those lifetime-style TV movies from the 90s and 00s about eating disorders and stuff. Because I was there, and it feels meaningful to me for that pain to be realized in the form of media that other people are watching and reading. I'm kind of an expert of the genre. One thing I know from watching these movies (and from lived experience) is that the "bad things that haunt you" (trauma, grief, SA, etc) never really stop bothering you, you just have to supplement the pain with joy and love. Lake Mungo is a bleak but very REAL portrayal of a girl who never figured out how to do that. But the movie really isn't about Alice at all. It's about her family's grieving process. And the movie ends when their grief resolves, even though she's still there. There's an after credits scene I don't think you mentioned (at the VERY VERY end, after ALL of the logos and everything) that shows Alice still sitting on a rocky bed in Lake Mungo. She's still there even after her family moves on. But the fact that it's after all the photos and all the logos that would usually come AFTER an after credits scene makes it feel like you, as the viewer, really have to go out of your way to SEE Alice in a way her family never could. "As the viewer, you were part of it too." We sure as hell ARE!!

[@SamIAm2000]

I don't have the words to explain how much emotion I felt watching you talk about this movie. At the end when you spoke about the loneliness my entire body covered in goosebumps. You did an amazing job putting over your feelings towards the film.

[@RocklinGraves]

Thanks Sam! That's a relief to hear because I've been VERY nervous about this video haha

[@SamIAm2000]

I remember you mentioning that so when I got the alert for this I had an internal "Yas!" on your behalf 😄

[@crystalshaw8744]

Agreed. Excellent review.

[@Zandro0o]

(2) I also cannot explain how this left me with soooo much emotions that I don't even know what to say

[@stephaniedreyfuss7920]

I saw it in an indie theater when it first came out in 2012ish, it was billed as a documentary, and every one of us in the theater were BAFFLED and so freaked out, it was such a good bait and switch to bill it as a documentary, instead of found footage/mockumentary mash up as that's way more accurate. i still recommend this film, and just tell people it's a ghost story documentary and tell them to not look it up - going in blind was so much better for this one!

[@sohren94]

I'm not the least bit surprised that this movie resonated so profoundly with Mike Flanagan. Nell came to mind immediately after we saw what Alice saw and I watched Lake Mungo for the first time years after watching Hill House. I'm quite affected by the idea of cyclical haunting because there's just no escape when it's just you. This kind of cold, lonely, grief-laden horror will always get to me because it reminds me that I'll feel it for real someday.

[@CrossoverManiac]

It's a doppelganger. Doppelganger is an entity that takes the form of someone that's about to die. That's what it seems like to me.

[@saradillon2252]

Well, I decided to give it a watch after seeing your video.. and then I couldn't sleep. It got under my skin and every shadow and shape in my bedroom freaked me out, having to go to the bathroom terrified me for fear of what might be standing in the dimmness, but most of all a pall of loneliness and sadness settled on me. I'm not sure I could watch it again, but it certainly is a masterpiece. Thank you!

[@tainkirrahe]

Lake Mungo is one of my all-time favourite horror films and I'm glad that more people are talking about it, especially so beautifully. I'm someone who is afraid of death and I feel the film portrays this with the same dread I do, which makes watching it both cathartic and utterly terrifying.

[@zackparler8915]

If I could use one word to describe this movie it would be “emptiness” which has never really been used in horror. Just feeling so empty and lonely in the landscape of grief and death is such a masterful way to do a horror film.

[@ITSTAKING]

Watching Lake Mungo for the first time was like playing Silent Hill 2 for the first time. I was not only constantly feeling uneasy, but when all was said and done, there was nothing else I could think about and obsess about for days and weeks. Goosebumps every time I think about it.

[@HermeneuticallySealed]

Incredibly apt comparison! I feel like they share the same central ethos in their handling of death. Utterly haunting.

[@capkronos00]

I absolutely love this movie. The sustained subtle creepiness and existential dread of the whole thing really manages to get under my skin. I guess it doesn't work for everyone out there but it's one of those special movies that will become an absolute favorite if it does.

[@johnnybutler4465]

I've been collecting films and immersed in cinema for 40 years. I love horror even though the horror genre is often the most difficult genre to find genuine horror. I'm probably impressed with about 1% of films in the genre. That being stated, Lake Mungo is one of my favorites of the last 20 years. It genuinely got under my skin and 'scared' me. Great essay on this under-appreciated film! Thank you! 🖤

[@melliethemortician]

What you said at 13:15 is very true. I lost my aunt to cancer when i was 9, because of it I had my first ever sickle cell crisis(they are often caused by stress) and because I don't deal with grief well i became very fixated on death/dying/why it happens. Im now 25 and in school for mortuary science because of that urge to help people in their final moments and figure out why or how they died and give their family at least a bit of closure and help them to grieve in a way I never could.

[@EGFChandler]

Thank you for this video. It is so good to hear from someone who felt the same, as you say, 'visceral reaction,' to this film as I did. It was so satisfying to hear you use the same language as I after experiencing this piece of art. 'Dread', is an important word for this film. I, too, keep rewatching Lake Mungo. It lives in my head as a deeply sad and haunting work. I recommend it carefully, as it is not for everyone. Thank you for highlighting all the amazing facets of Lake Mungo, including the music and use of small details in the storytelling. Even now, thinking about some of the scenes crushes me a little.

[@RedSpade37]

I said this on another video about Lake Mungo, I think, but I love this film, because at the end of it all, it made me feel a very specific kind of sadness that I've never experienced before or since. I know that might sound corny, but this is one of those movies where if it works for you, it really works for you. I still randomly think about it, to this day.

[@MilesToGoGo]

Have you seen A Ghost Story? The specific kind of sadness I felt from this movie is something I’ve only experienced from A Ghost Story, told much differently but the theme is the same

[@RedSpade37]

@@MilesToGoGo I don't believe I've seen that, but I am very curious to check it out. Thanks for mentioning.

[@MilesToGoGo]

@@RedSpade37 it’s another slow burn and not “horror” but explores similar themes. It’s the only other film that left me with the same existential sadness as this did

[@Claritynw]

You, sir, have earned a sub. Amazing video and analysis!

[@RandallChase1]

So many times I start watching your videos, then have to stop go watch the movie you are reviewing and then coming back to watch the review… and I’m so glad I did, this movie was really a wonderful experience.

[@OnlyJalenPhd]

That’s what I’m doing now! 😂😂😂 paused at 4:20 😂

[@samanthakoller533]

Omg. THANK YOU. I’ve seen a lot of scary movies in my lifetime, and I thought this one was kind of boring, tbh, but you know what I picture when I’m lying in my bed in the dark,, taking my dog for a walk at night, or in my basement doing laundry?? That cellphone footage. 😭😭

[@hellobirdie0617]

Beautifully acted, well written and haunting in the most existential way possible. The actors deserve so much credit for the raw portrayal of a family torn apart by silence in life and death.

[@martabarrales3112]

Really well articulated, this is one of those movies I watched once and never again, it really nails the existential dread.

[@Hannibal-Rx]

Every so often you’ll watch something or read something that says “I get it. I know how you feel. I see you.” Midsommar will always be that for me, and Mike Flanagan’s work also hits that every time. I feel like Lake Mungo is another example of this, and maybe one that some people don’t “get” until they’ve experienced something that changes their world in the way that the death of a loved one does. I always love when someone resonates with a movie like this in the same way I do, because it makes me feel seen.

[@allansko2668]

Yeah, 100%! It's such a well-done mockumentary that it can't help but resonate with those who have lost significant others. I am also a fully subscribed member to the Mike Flanagan Fan Club!

[@a_Cynthia_Main]

Same.

[@littlebighead4482]

i had that feeling so strongly from haunting of hill house, it's why it's one of my favorite shows ever

[@chcknpie04]

Not just the death of any loved one, but the death of someone you loved so much that the only way to cope with it is to believe that they are still there in some incorporeal way

[@ForniteforAdults]

I watched Midsommar once and afterwards I had a very severe panic attack. I will never watch that movie again.

[@marniekilbourne608]

I watched this movie years ago as a DVD rental. I watch a lot of horror movies so I'm not usually easily scared. This movie really gave me the creeps. After it was over, I just sat there terrified and couldn't move. I was wishing I had not watched it while I was alone at home. I haven't watched the movie again since! Haunting long after the movie is over.

[@bonniejeannetucker6992]

Same feeling of being terrified and could not move either 😢

[@MacGrump]

The first time I watched it, I remember I caught it midway through, I genuinely couldn’t work out if it was a documentary until the reveal. It shocked me so much. The father’s performance was remarkably nuanced. The film upset me and chilled me in equal measures

[@an9el_8888]

The sadness I feel everytime I recommend Lake Mungo and they say it’s boring. 💔

[@LuxeLuminaSoaps]

4:14 say less. Be back later.

[@hapticgg]

This is the first time I’ve ever taken this advice, I do night security and have a lot of down time all alone so I’ll be watching tonight

[@Gabagoul83]

Me too and it totally wasn’t worth it

[@snapdragon6601]

​@@Gabagoul83So you took his advice and watched the movie but walked away disappointed? I'm trying to decide if it's worth taking the time to download and watch it or if those couple hours would be better spent on a different movie.

[@woogie2345]

how’d it go?

[@hapticgg]

@@woogie2345 it was alright pretty slow, I don’t regret watching but see no reason to watch it again

[@femto-kun]

the premise of this movie is why when i feel a presence that i can’t see, i talk to them, i let them know that i can feel and sense them and if i have requests i ask politely and it has never failed me yet, they always abide. this goes across the many different places i have lived

[@ohraisins]

The power of this film, and any great horror is how subtle it is. Horror can be so over the top and just gory etc, but this really gets under your skin in a powerful way. Totally agree with you! Great essay thank you. 🙂

[@khoiiifish]

This is a very special horror film. Not even just horror, but sad, and as you said, beautiful. I thought that it would bore me, prior to watching it. But I was terribly wrong. The feeling that you get after watching it is absolutely haunting, it stays with you for a long time. I'm glad there are people still talking about it! I first watched Lake Mungo while visiting my girlfriend a few years ago. We were both giggling about the anticipation of that fear in the beginning, only to be rendered completely silent & sickened with dread by the end. Needless to say, neither of us slept that night. But it was both in part due to fear, as well as having so much to think deeply about afterward. Not everyone will agree, but I think the film's approach to fear is absolutely genius.

[@PetParadiseVB]

You have made me realize it’s ok to watch horror movies and feel uncomfortable… and want to do it again. You share so many of the same feelings I get. And then your appreciation for it… relaxed attitude. And just generally warm persona… inspired me to take my son to see Terrifier 3. And we had so much fun. Even it I hid and was disturbed lol. Your channel literally helped me be closer to my kid. Thank you.

[@afacelessname]

Lake Mungo is one of 6 horror movies the deeply affect me. I love it so much. Great video too.

[@RocklinGraves]

What were the others?

[@afacelessname]

@@RocklinGravesin no order: Speak No Evil (2022), Poughkeepsie Tapes, Possum, The Loved Ones, Caveat. After a rewatch, I Saw The TV Glow will probably end up on there too. I was too overwhelmed visually to fully take that devastatingly sad flick in.

[@jesterssketchbook]

@@afacelessname you might like 'Skinamarink' if you like those. And "Heck" by the same director - which is on YT for free

[@afacelessname]

@@jesterssketchbook ohh i have a Skinamarink Steelbook. It didn’t work on me that well, but i respect the hell out of it

[@personperson4708]

​@afacelessname Eyyy Possum!!! One of my favourites

[@RoseVirusLV]

I'd never heard of this movie until i couple years back when i saw FoundFlix did a video on it. I watched it while i was home alone during the day and just listening to the guy talk about it and go through the plot until the end. I'm usually not incredibly scared by ghosts, in general, spooky imagery is enough to get me on edge but not enough to stick with me. But something about the ending, not even seeing Alice's corpse unnerved me more than just the very idea of having her loneliness at the fact she was dealing with something that no one else could fully comprehend. The inevitability of her doom seemed to color and touch everything/everyone in ways that nobody knew except her in the past, present and future and to have her family be unaware is a whole new level of being unseen and that stuck with me because i am also fearful of being present but not being seen or acknowledged, to feel like a ghost when I'm still here. Makes me pretty emotional. Sorry for the ramble.

[@abigailp.6607]

I’m sorry you lost your Dad. I get it. My Dad died nearly five years ago, while I was 15. Lake Mungo, and the ways the son and dad behaved specifically, rang so true to me it made my chest ache. While the movie wasn’t terrifying to me, it held a different note, one of beauty. Thank you for covering this amazing movie!! Love your channel 💕

[@prismen5535]

a similar australian horror film to this is called ‘the tunnel’ (2011). it’s not on any streaming but it’s very known here in australia as a more ‘underground’ found footage film. it’s very reminiscent of lake mungo and i would definitely recommend checking it out!

[@sonotdown998]

@@prismen5535 Thanks to your comment I was able to find a film that I had been wanting to re-watch for a while but couldn’t remember the name: Absentia (2011) and it’s Mike Flanagan to boot! Now I gotta go watch the one you’re actually talking about.

[@prismen5535]

@@sonotdown998 I’m glad I helped you remember it! I’ll definitely check out Absentia! Will let you know my thoughts.

[@sonotdown998]

@@prismen5535 “F***ing TANGLES, mate!”

[@obgato7980]

The Tunnel is on Shudder.

[@ryanduckworth4581]

Lake Mungo is my favorite horror movie of all time. I’m so happy whenever I see people talk about it and praise it

[@WaxPaper]

"Noroi: The Curse" should be one of the next films you watch. It's a similar kind of horror; the kind that makes your neck-hair stand up, and keeps making you look behind yourself, just so you can be absolutely sure you didn't slip into a reality where these things really happen.

[@-HAZZARD]

It's definitely better than Lake mungo both are great films but noroi is just one of the finest ones out there

[@RocklinGraves]

@@WaxPaper I've seen it and really enjoyed it, but didn't find it scary

[@Erlisch1337]

Noroi was very mid. might be in part to everyone saying such good things about it that it made me set my expectactions far too high

[@kylotode4429]

I dont think it hit me as hard as it seems it hit you, but i really enjoyed it. Its so effortlessly, subtly unsettling and my heartrate was elevated from beginning to end. The lack of gimics was very refreshing, I'm absolutely recommending this one to friends

[@juliameganm]

I'm so glad there are others out there who were deeply disturbed by this film. I watched it about a month ago for the first time and was blown away by how much it scared me!

[@voxicore]

In all honesty I think the 'blood and horrified expression' is just artefacting from zooming in on already rough dark footage. I can see why you see her like that, but I think its just the quality. Anyway, I've watched your video probably about 10 times in the last few weeks, I've only half-watched this movie once and it was a year ago hahaha. I'm absolutely LOVING the theories and analysis videos on it, gonna have to watch it properly soon because I've been obsessing over it like mad. Amazing video, thank you!

[@sophy6884]

Thank you for sharing your illuminating and heartfelt insights, Evan. I watched the movie last night and it touched me very deeply, especially the ending sequence about Alice being left all alone in an empty house, unseen even by those who loved her the most. A truly haunting thought.

[@StonerTyranitar]

The chills that I chilled while watching this video. The hair on my neck literally hasn’t stopped and the chills keep coming. The walk up to her ghost is some shit I won’t be forgetting for such a long time. That jumpscare was earned and I hate it

[@TheRohanUK]

Totally agree it haunts me whenever I remember it. The fact it touches on loss and your own death is scary and sad all at once.

[@bearhugzfam649]

Prepping for my dad’s funeral seems like the perfect time to watch this film for the first time lol. Wish me luck.

[@the_dandy_redneck2605]

Thank you so much for your video essay on this incredible medication on grief, loneliness and trauma. The film left me terrified and with an unshakeable sense of sadness that lasted long after the credits rolled. The loneliness and troubled nature of Alice, and the secrets later revealed reminded me so much of Laura Palmer and Twin Peaks. I wonder if the surname Palmer was chosen in tribute to Lynch and Twin Peaks. I have only had one other film leave me feeling the way Lake Mungo did, and that’s Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me. I would love to hear your thoughts on Twin Peaks, Lynch and Mulholland Drive. I very recently found your channel so I want to thank you for the fantastic insights you provide - your passion and dedication is clear to see.

[@Wolfen_Argent]

I've yet to watch Lake Mungo, but the way you describe it is very relatable to me-- especially in how the dread and borderline agony induced sadness is felt throughout the narration of the film.

[@DoraDiamond]

I cannot get enough of seeing interpretations and analyses of this film. To this day, this film is the most profoundly affecting piece of cinema I have ever seen and it's so exciting seeing people give it its flowers

[@CloudMountainJuror]

Phenomenal video. There were a couple points where you just describing bits of the movie gave me chills. This movie also lingered with me long after watching it.

[@moonshelter3448]

The existential horror is the scariest type of this genre. The questions of life and death and what comes with them are the most difficult and terrifying to me. This movie is really amazing.

[@MR-dr5nc]

When people say the movie is dull or boring, I’m curious what actually scares them. This movie touches on very fundamental fears of being human - anticipating death, how does life go on without you / our transience on this earth, fear of loneliness, feeling like you don’t belong or your time is almost up. It’s really heavy and fundamental stuff that this movie homes in on. Idk how you watch a movie like this and let that all bounce off of you.

[@vvolves7093]

I don't care about life moving on because ill be dead duh

[@MR-dr5nc]

@@vvolves7093 you’ve never felt a pang of sadness at the thought that life goes on without you? I’m not talking about from the perspective of when I’m dead, will I care about it. I’m talking about now as an alive person.

[@doctorrobert1339]

@@MR-dr5nc They gave you a thought terminating answer so it's not worth engaging with them because they won't engage with the thought exercise.

[@LOWBORN-the-LOATHSOME]

@@vvolves7093 A = A

[@LOWBORN-the-LOATHSOME]

The smoothest brain take I've ever heard on this movie was that they didn't find Alice sympathetic because she did freaky sex acts with her neighbor...like bruh

[@cygone]

Lake Mungo is such an inspired, perfectly pitched film, impeccably directly and extremely well-acted. I wish Joel Anderson would try to capture lightning in a bottle again.

[@ladybatwing]

So glad you finally got to this one! One of my absolute favourites.

[@gavvo-7640]

Evan, u nailed this. Just makes me want to watch Lake Mungo again. I found it deeply disturbing and sad. Loved your long-awaited review dude

[@RafaelGNarutoFan]

The most well understood review of Lake Mungo i have ever seen! I agree with eveything you said! I can literally say that I had the same experience as you Evan. The whole impending looming doom all over Alice brings me such shivers and anxiety and terror that I have never ecperienced before. Especially when you consider that I saw this film while living on a student accomodation premises which were a monastery in the past and coicidentally with graves outside my house. The combination of my environment and the movie including scores, grainy videos and slow impending doom hit me so much i coudlnt sleep with the lights on for a few days and that image stuck in my mind!

[@ulfingvar1]

Totally agree. It is a masterpiece. Not just as a "horror" film, but as a film. Period. Fantastic analysis, by the way.

[@cassandralittle]

Toni Collette’s performance will forever go down in my mind as one of the best acted characters of all time. No other on-screen personality has given me chills in that way. Just incredible.

[@Josephpirro]

The twin peaks connection feels really strong. The Palmers, the double life, and the supernatural elements.

[@jimp72pa]

Reviews like this are ALMOST therapeutic. Lake Mungo involves a dread that is persistent, and hard to define. A masterpiece I have, a d will continue to, recommend.

[@corpse7333]

This movie gets under my skin.... I mean this movie is stirring the depression and anxiety. And it's a that kind of fear. Not jumpscares and all. But it's very.... You can't discuss with normal people or friends because they don't understand it. They don't understand depression, pain, anxiety or mental illness so they just dismiss you and you don't talk about it because you'll be judged or they'll call you with different name and they'll think that you're a freak. So you just separate yourself from everyone and stay in your secret world. This movie needs that understanding. It's actually very disturbing horror movie and I enjoyed it 🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤

[@catbirthdays]

this is one of the best film discussion videos ive ever seen. so rarely do i see this level of respect given to a film and talked about with such emotion and genuineness. ive recommended this movie to so many people but none of them were moved in the way i was, and clearly in the way you were too.

[@joshyoung1580]

Thank you for this brilliant examination of a genuinely great movie. I have just one tiny quibble; no comment on the haunting combination of sound and imagery immediately following the closing credits? When I watched the movie, I actually felt a sense of relief as the credits came to an end, that the worst was over. But then...

[@lalainaminer7138]

this is definitely one of the scariest movies i’ve ever seen, for tackling death the way it does, so happy you made a video about it

[@dionysoscub]

This one really got to me and stayed in my brain for days. That last scene is absolutely unnerving as hell.

[@grassrootsgaming1627]

I have never encountered someone that felt the same way I did when watching this movie. The way you described it at the start of the video felt like you were plucking the words right out of my mouth!

[@andrejslukins9637]

This film was a great watch; my computer froze during the beach scene and I had to reboot it - terrified and scared to bits; such an intense watch.

[@Hey-Its-Sara]

Not only do I find this movie to be the scariest horror film I've ever watched, it also features some of the best performances I've ever seen. It's just incredible, and so few people talk about it.

[@kingjaeher]

this movie had so many moments where it built such an eerie atmosphere. The b-roll shots of the empty house with the music ambience sent me to a place of terror. One of my favorite horror films forsure!

[@Gonzooo69]

Mate I’m so with you. Watching the footage with your voice over has made me feel paralysed and I got goosebumps. I have just turned the light on haha. I watched this in 2014 and that feeling whenever that film pops up in my head has stayed with me. Thanks for the video, at the time I couldn’t find much media in it so it was satisfying to watch this video knowing others feel the same way too so long after first watching it.

[@lacountess]

What this movie does well is to invoke some of the primal fears viewers had in their childhood, a time when a person is too inexperienced to fully understand the world. I remember clearly how a bad dream, or an off-looking image, or an unknown sound would scare me for days, simply because I couldn't explain what it was and whether or not it could hurt me. This movie does the same thing with adults. It creates a visual and auditory space that is so strange and uncanny, it throws our subconscience back to that time and our helpless ability to describe what it was that had so frightened us.

[@Hastalis]

I’m so glad this movie is finally getting the recognition it deserves, absolutely brilliant film

[@xChikyx]

ngl, seeing your own ghost must be the scariest shit ever

[@HawkTeevs]

I haven't felt such an aching sense of dread and genuine fear watching a horror movie, up until I saw Lake Mungo. It's approach to ghosts and the paranormal strikes so many nerves with me, that the slow and methodical pace of the narrative actually ended up making my heart legitimately ache when the credits started rolling (ESPECIALLY when the credits started rolling, iykyk). The weight of fear and dread I felt afterwards carried on throughout the rest of my week. I couldn't get that image of Alice's corpse out of my head. I couldn't get the revelation at the end out of my head. This movie haunted me for days, and no other horror movie has gotten close to doing that to me the way Lake Mungo did.

[@fireguy-g3r]

I’m with you. This story I horribly haunting. I’m glad this was just art. Transcendental

[@kathyorourke9273]

Stuckmann said the same thing you do about lake mungo years ago. I went out and rented it and was underwhelmed. So yesterday I saw you talking about it and immediately stopped you and found it could see it on Prime and watched it again. I admit it’s pretty creepy but more sad than scary. Dang!

[@Mcguyver020]

To me Lake Mungo expresses "death" before death. Intense feeling of I wouldn't say abandonment but being pushed to the side, around but just ignored until things are too late. I'm not saying that it was her own actions specifically though.

[@MPTMC13]

Unfortunately I didn't understand this movie when I watched it. After watching your video, everything makes a lot more sense, I wish I got the same feeling that some of you did though when watching the movie. I still enjoyed it and this video added a lot to it that went over my head.

[@AllytheGumby]

this deserves to be 1 as the most horrifying film. its weird, there are people who absolutely do not seem to get it and others who feel effected in exactly the same way but seeming no inbetween. i fully understand when you mentioned 'that nerve' which it hits. it makes you shiver, not from the fright or lingering light of what you saw but the shiver that crawls from underneath your mind connecting its life to yours in a way the conscious doesnt know how to grasp.

[@kurtisviktor3314]

Oh I got it…i just didn’t think it was good. 🤷‍♂️

[@springmeadows]

so overhyped its not even top 10

[@JoeGrizz1y]

I am so happy that I watched this film with zero expectations and knowledge. I was alone, had the house to myself, and went through amazon prime. It always caught my eye, but i never gave it a chance. One I did, that morning, I was immediately skeptical at the start. I felt lost, yet intrigued. Trying to figure out what it was. The acting kept me interested. Once it started showing the "Ghost" sightings, I was in. It genuinely felt eerie just watching. The imagery of Alice's phone footage is genuinely creepy and got my brain putting the pieces together. The ending was the biggest shock. It felt so gut wrenching, yet eerie at the same time. You feel so bad about her spirit being left behind, yet happy the family has decided to move on. This movie has stuck with me and I occasionally think about it, when people mention any type of ghost movie. GOD it was surprisingly amazing going in blind and discovering this thoughtful, deep, puzzling, and simplistic movie.

[@xTwistedPeach]

Your channel is seriously underrated! Glad to see Lake Mungo getting the recognition it deserves - its such an effective Australian horror film and It left me feeling so uneasy (especially the final shot). I just felt uncomfortable in my house after watching it.

[@RocklinGraves]

Thank you! It's one hell of a movie

[@Human-lg8hb]

1:05 Horror movies that are actually scary are those that make me think of them a week after i’ve watched them, and they make me start questioning my own reality.