It's been a few years since I've seen this movie and wanted to get the discussion rolling here.

I've always loved horror movies and remember when I was a kid, I would watch them and in case of a really good, frightening movie, I'd get so scared that I was regretting my decision to watch it alone in the evening. Once the memory faded a bit I would do it again. lol. For instance "The Shining" scared me every single f'n time I watched it and that was a lot. I'd still consider it the best horror movie of all time.

Over the years (up until I was, I think, 29) I noticed that no movie had the ability to give me that heavy feeling of dread, where you want to switch on all the lights, not walk through the house/apartment anymore, and watch sports or something absolutely non-threatening. Even re-visits to "The Shining" didn't give me that feeling anymore. I thought, "well, seems like horror movies only work that way when you're a kid". Then when I was 29, I rented "Lake Mungo". All I knew was that it was described as a "horror drama" and it was about a dead girl. Boy, was I clueless on what I found there.

It didn't take long until the atmosphere of the movie totally sucked me in. The movie is faux-documentary style, which I found interesting, as I was getting tired of all the found-footage films. I love watching documentaries and remember I enjoyed some that were dealing with hauntings and stuff (like the "A Haunting" series), so I had no problem engaging myself in the movie and prentending to watch a real documentary. The acting contributed to that as well, as I felt that all the interviews / talking heads sequences were so realistic. How the mother grieved over the death of her daughter, it literally made me feel very sad. But all that time, there was this eerie feeling, that something terrifying is lurking beneath the surface there. Could not shake that feeling. The movie had me on edge literally the whole running time. And the majority of the scenes is just people talking. For some reason everything was unsettling to me, even the house they lived in. I was expecting to see something horrible at so many points. The movie then takes a few twists and turns which are good for keeping the story interesting but did not divert my attention too much or change the tone of the movie.

Then at the end, the scene happens (EVERYONE who saw this movie knows what I'm talking about). And the built-up to that is just so incredibly good, that literally, at the moment when the cell phone footage starts and the text at the bottom says "Alice's cell phone footage", dread hit me like a cannon. I was on the verge of just stopping the movie. Part of me absolutely did not want to see what would unfold there. The thing is, in contrast to my usual ritual when watching a horror movie, I actually watched this one with a friend who came over spontaneously. I don't know, I might have stopped the movie right then and there, had I been alone. But so the scene played out and, I really remember that vividly, I was terrified when she was walking up to it and thought "holy f-ck, this is how I used to feel as a kid!!!", and then the one big scare happens and I felt an icy chill going up and down my body. I don't remember getting that from any movie ever! I remember turning to my friend and going something along the lines of "WHAT THE FUCK.......is that?". I don't remember if he said anything. I have no idea how I would have reacted, had I watched this alone. ^{^}

Later when I went to bed I actually put the TV on on a much higher volume than I usually do and made sure the sleep timer was off. I did NOT want to wake up in the middle of the night in silence and darkness.

Anyway, that was my love letter to this gem of a movie. I'd love to know whether people here had similar experiences with it. The movie achieved what I was looking for since I was a kid, only more than I would have wished for. lol. Fun thought: That deep feeling of dread and at times sadness....isn't that what people who had ghost encounters often describe? So all in all, I'll say that this is the movie equivalent of staying at a haunted house. ^{^}

By the way, although I love the movie and even own it on BluRay, I haven't watched it for a second time yet. xD