Many of today's horror films employ graphic violence, producing results that are more offensively gruesome than scary. Filmmakers who believe that zooming in on bodily trauma will scare audiences can definitely learn from Lake Mungo, a modest budget mystery thriller that takes its time building tension and creating an atmosphere of unease.

Life(less) Portraits

The film opens with black-and-white photos that look to be from the late 1800s. While they are of live subjects, these portraits are staid and lifeless, which may explain why they have a rather unsettling effect. The creepy photos perfectly set the mood for the film, especially when combined with an eerie score and soundbites that foreshadow doom.

A Family Outing Gone Horribly Wrong

After the opening, the film moves onto its main subject, the Palmers. They are a seemingly normal Australian family but we quickly find out that they have suffered a horrible loss. Through news clips and interviews, the film reveals that Alice Palmer (Talia Zucker) disappeared during a family outing. The Palmers hold out hope that she will be found unharmed, but those hopes are dashed when the police recover the body of a drowned teen, one that Alice's father, Russell (David Pledger), positively identifies as that of his daughter.

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