On the 4th day of Halloween, you really need to see…
There are several great ghost stories I could have recommended here (The Others, The Devil’s Backbone, The Orphanage, to name but a few), but none deserve championing as much as Lake Mungo (2008).
This Australian film is an authentic mock documentary, looking at the untimely death of a teenage girl, and her family’s subsequent experiences in the aftermath of the tragedy. Perhaps the best way of describing Lake Mungo is simply ‘eerie’. From the start, everything in this story is ‘off’ in an inexplicable, unsettling way that gets under your skin, even when little in the way of the overtly supernatural is occurring on-screen. Like the best slow-burners, this builds by deepening the mystery, making you care, drawing you in…and then delivering a single moment of heart-stopping terror that will truly freeze the blood and give many a viewer sleepless nights. In my view, only the original Japanese ‘Ring’ successfully pulls off the same trick quite so well, which is praise indeed.
Check out the rest of James’ recommendations for 12 Days of Halloween!
