"Lake Mungo" is an Australian film that is part horror and part mystery...with a stronger emphasis on the mystery aspect to the story. It begins with the Palmer family on an outing and their daughter, Alice, drowning in the reservoir. What follows is the family trying to make sense of this death and as they go through Alice's things, they begin to realize that there's far more to the story than simply her dying. She certainly was NOT a normal teen and I'll leave it to you to see how and why.

If you are looking to be scared, I doubt if this film will do it for you. But instead of cheap scares, the film manages to be both creepy and unique. Using a fake documentary look and style, it certainly is unique and keeps your attention.

Now I do agree with another reviewer that as far as mockumentaries go, this keeps it as real as it can. It really does a good job in that. But that also might mean, that some will not enjoy this at all. Not everyone is into documentaries, and not everyone is into ghost stories.

There are some who believe stuff like that and it will appeal more to them than to others. Which group you belong to I obviously can't tell. Decent horror, that plays like a drama about a girl dissapearing ...

Sixteen-year-old Alice Palmer (Talia Zucker) drowns while swimming in the local dam. When her body is recovered and a verdict of accidental death returned, her grieving family buries her. The family then experiences a series of strange and inexplicable events centered in and around their home.

The story is presented as a documentary, and looks like how a real documentary would look. The pace is rather slow. I appreciate that there really is a place in Australia called Lake Mungo in order to add to the realism. The lake is known to anthropologists as the home of Mungo Man, the oldest human remains found in Australia, and Mungo Lady, the oldest human remains in the world to be ritually cremated.

There has been rumor for a few years now (actually since 2008) that the people who made "The Ring" were planning to remake this film. Why? I understand remaking Spanish, French or Japanese films (even though I disagree with it). But why take a film in English that is easily attained and then remake it? Seems bizarre.