![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
I'm a huge fan of horror, but I'm also pretty picky when it comes down to it! Serial killers and other such slasher movies don't faze me at all - sorry, Freddy and Jason - so most of the horror/supernatural thrillers I enjoy involve ghosts, demons, and things of that nature.
Of course, since I've seen/read most of the better-known good stuff, it means that there's not a lot that gets under my skin. Actually, when something is sublimely creepy, it's more of an adrenaline rush than a chill - I'll cackle gleefully at the scary parts while everyone else is screaming.
Which is not to say that nothing scares me, because plenty does! Off the top of my head, a couple movies and shows that have creeped me out: The Shining, The Devil's Backbone and The Orphanage, the Urado arc of Ghost Hunt, and especially the Ju-on/Grudge movies, which I eventually inoculated myself to over time. And I can't forget the first movie to ever really get under my skin: The Sixth Sense. I was nine or ten years old, and I didn't sleep at all that night.
The movies that get under my skin aren't the ones with relentless scares (well, except maybe The Grudge), but they're the ones that really get my imagination going. That's the scariest thing about them, I think.
Which, finally, gets me to this rec: Lake Mungo, an Aussie indie film that the lovely![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
pocky_slash brought to my attention last night. At first, the ghost story setup seems very standard: a teenage girl (with long black hair, natch) drowns, and her grieving family soon starts experiencing mysterious phenomena in the house. I would have thought it would play out in the usual way, but after reading some of the reviews, I knew it wouldn't. So thankfully, I decided to watch it during the day.
Lake Mungo is recorded in a faux-documentary narrative, much like another recent horror film Paranormal Activity. I enjoyed the slow build of the latter, and the tension builds even more slowly and effectively in this film. Many of the spooky inciting events from the beginning are only talked about, not shown, and the film is mostly made up of pictures, interviews, and camera footage.
While there are some genuinely creepy images, the film is really building, ever so gradually, up to one real scary moment towards the end that actually made me gasp and recoil. Which I never do! I started the movie with my computer on my lap. But after that moment? I moved it to the end of my bed. It's one of the few examples of horror where they do reveal the unknown, and it's just as scary as what you imagined, if not more so.
It's not a popcorn horror flick - don't watch it expecting things to jump out with scare chords. But if you want something sublimely unsettling that just digs its way under your skin, Lake Mungo gets my enthusiastic recommendation.
EDIT: Some spoilers in the comments!
Of course, since I've seen/read most of the better-known good stuff, it means that there's not a lot that gets under my skin. Actually, when something is sublimely creepy, it's more of an adrenaline rush than a chill - I'll cackle gleefully at the scary parts while everyone else is screaming.
Which is not to say that nothing scares me, because plenty does! Off the top of my head, a couple movies and shows that have creeped me out: The Shining, The Devil's Backbone and The Orphanage, the Urado arc of Ghost Hunt, and especially the Ju-on/Grudge movies, which I eventually inoculated myself to over time. And I can't forget the first movie to ever really get under my skin: The Sixth Sense. I was nine or ten years old, and I didn't sleep at all that night.
The movies that get under my skin aren't the ones with relentless scares (well, except maybe The Grudge), but they're the ones that really get my imagination going. That's the scariest thing about them, I think.
Which, finally, gets me to this rec: Lake Mungo, an Aussie indie film that the lovely
pocky_slash brought to my attention last night. At first, the ghost story setup seems very standard: a teenage girl (with long black hair, natch) drowns, and her grieving family soon starts experiencing mysterious phenomena in the house. I would have thought it would play out in the usual way, but after reading some of the reviews, I knew it wouldn't. So thankfully, I decided to watch it during the day.Lake Mungo is recorded in a faux-documentary narrative, much like another recent horror film Paranormal Activity. I enjoyed the slow build of the latter, and the tension builds even more slowly and effectively in this film. Many of the spooky inciting events from the beginning are only talked about, not shown, and the film is mostly made up of pictures, interviews, and camera footage.
While there are some genuinely creepy images, the film is really building, ever so gradually, up to one real scary moment towards the end that actually made me gasp and recoil. Which I never do! I started the movie with my computer on my lap. But after that moment? I moved it to the end of my bed. It's one of the few examples of horror where they do reveal the unknown, and it's just as scary as what you imagined, if not more so.
It's not a popcorn horror flick - don't watch it expecting things to jump out with scare chords. But if you want something sublimely unsettling that just digs its way under your skin, Lake Mungo gets my enthusiastic recommendation.
EDIT: Some spoilers in the comments!
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2010-08-11 08:57 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2010-08-12 04:35 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2010-08-11 09:08 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2010-08-12 04:22 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2010-08-12 04:36 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2010-08-12 05:53 pm (UTC)From:Actually, the main part that I'm curious about is the whole bit where they mention Mathew's bruises-- that bit's never really referenced again, unlike the rest of the bits they tied together like the dreams and June leaving the room. On the one hand, it makes it seem more realistic, but, on the other hand, I'm kind of curious as to why people think it's in there.
The cell phone footage scared me to death holy crap. I just don't even know what to make of it at this point; I think I'd have to process a little more and hear what other people have to say. (8D? 8D?) Just. Hooooly crap. For a ghost story that's not about a malicious ghost at all, it's really terrifying.
no subject
Date: 2010-08-12 05:58 pm (UTC)From:I don't know how to spoiler tag, so, um. THAR BE SPOILERS, Y'ALL
Date: 2010-08-12 06:22 pm (UTC)From:The cell phone footage was the scariest thing I've seen in months, no lie. I was already really tense because of the movie's habit of sloooowly going into a close-up shot when Alice showed up in the pictures. It would get me afraid that she was about to move or jump at the camera or something. So when she got right up into the cell phone at Lake Mungo and stopped for about ten seconds, I had almost started to relax... AND THEN SHE LUNGED AND I DIED OF A HEART ATTACK. (And the visual of drowned Alice with her empty eye was creepy enough as is.)
Hee, I know what you mean about not knowing what to say about that moment at first. I've had a night of (fitful) sleep to think about it, and I guess it got me on two levels, and the way it scared me while I was watching was different than the way it scared me later. When I was watching, it was more about the visual, the shock factor, and the tension finally breaking. But what got me later was the idea - which was really creative, actually - that Alice literally saw her own death coming for her. I keep thinking about that line where she says that she thinks something bad has already happened to her, but it hasn't caught up to her yet, and I get chills. I've never seen death portrayed like that before, and it was enough to keep me from looking at any mirrors in the dark last night!
YEAH, SPOILERS HERE, TOO :Db
Date: 2010-08-12 07:06 pm (UTC)From:The thing about this movie is that I do kind of want to take some time to process and then watch it again, because there is so much going on. It's really nice that way.
That's definitely the scariest part of the movie; the view of death and the afterlife. What Alice saw and where she exists now are definitely the bits that creep me out the most. What gets me is that we never know why she lunged, and… mmmrgh. ♥ EXCELLENTLY DONE, THOUGH. My favorite horror stories manage to wrap up enough to tell a story but don't try to tie all the loose ends together in a neat, pat, little package, and Lake Mungo definitely does that really awesomely. :D ♥
Re: YEAH, SPOILERS HERE, TOO :Db
Date: 2010-08-12 11:04 pm (UTC)From:Hmmm... the dead Alice coming at the living Alice could be interpreted a lot of ways. What if the ghost was somehow clinging to Alice in her last few months, and that's why she kept having dreams about drowning? That's a freaky thought, too... death following you everywhere you go. ;;;
Yeah, you're right about those loose ends. In the last few minutes I was expecting something else to happen, maybe one final scare, but since it ended with a shiver rather than a bang, it left me a lot more unsettled. I think it was an interesting choice, and it worked so well for them.