History Film / LakeMungo

* MadnessMantra: Combined with a TitleDrop. [[spoiler:Alice's day planner shortly before her death is filled with the words "'''LAKE MUNGO'''" scribbled over and over again in giant font. This is the catalyst for the climactic revelation in the film]].

* MindScrew: A lot of things in this film will leave you with a lot to think about. [[spoiler: What caused those bruises on Mathew? Was it self-harm? What really gave Alice those dreams? Was is just hallucinations? Was it because she may have been pregnant ("the sick feeling")? What created the figure at Lake Mungo? It couldn't have just been hallucinations since she actually filmed it. So was the lake cursed? Did it slowly MindRape her and kill her, or was the whole thing as mundane as "a guilt-wracked and very misunderstood girl slowly loses her sanity and falls victim to an accident (or [[DrivenToSuicide commits suicide]])"?]]

* NothingIsScarier: The film predominantly relies on ambiance and haunting still images to convey horror rather than jump scares and gore. Most of all, [[spoiler:we never truly [[AmbiguousSituation find out how Alice died.]] You could infer it was from drowning since she was last seen in the lake, but the movie never infers she died from drowning specifically.]]

* WholePlotReference: To ''Series/TwinPeaks'', which was also about a beautiful, young woman who turns up dead, with the investigation afterwards turning up bizarre paranormal events and evidence of a huge, secret double life on the part of the young woman. The fact that both girls have the same last name (Palmer) seals this.

* NightmareFuelColoringBook: Alice's day planner is a variation. [[spoiler:After her encounter with her own ghost she just begins writing the words "LAKE MUNGO" in it over and over again]].

* ConvenientPhotograph: Played with multiple times. First, the family thinks they can see Alice's ghost in Mathew's photography, so they set up a camera to go off on timer. Then subverted when it turns out that [[spoiler:Mathew planted Alice there.]] Then played straight when June realizes the photographs actually [[spoiler:capture someone breaking into Alice's room.]] Then played straight a final time over the credits, where photographs are shown that reveal [[spoiler:Alice's ghost is still there all along and never left.]]f

* MaybeMagicMaybeMundane: Zig-zagged in-universe. Alice appears as a ghost to her father, but it's unclear if she's really there or if he's hallucinating from his suppressed grief. Then she starts appearing in photographs, but it's revealed that Mathew was faking them to help give his mother closure. ''Then'' she starts appearing in footage for real [[spoiler:and it's revealed in the credits that she's actually be on film all along, but nobody has noticed. Not to mention that she saw recorded the image of her own ghost approaching her.]]

* QuestionableConsent: Alice was sixteen when [[spoiler:she had an "affair" with her married neighbors.]] Although everyone treats this as though it was consensual (and judging on the [[spoiler:sex tape]], it nominally was), [[spoiler:Alice's psychological unraveling after that and the fact that the husband tries to steal the tape underlines that something else might have been ongoing, at least some form of psychological coercion.]]

* RuleOfSymbolism: [[spoiler: Both Alice and June (Alice's mother) had an interview with Ray, and during their hypnotic trances, they were both asked to go into their house and walk around. Alice described that she went to her room and sat on her chair, while June also described herself walking into Alice's room, and Alice continued to describe seeing her mother walking in. This implies that although their trances took place at different times, they were parallel. However, In Alice's trance, she describes that June came into the room, looked around, but left, oblivious to her presence. In June's trance, she described herself coming into the room, seeing it empty, and leaves. Showing us that the daughter waited for the mother, she wanted her to understand her more, but the mother never saw it, she was oblivious to the daughter's true feelings.]]

* WhamShot: The video from [[spoiler:Alice's cell phone, from her class trip to Lake Mungo, which is shown to be her own corpse.]] It throws everything about the film and what her family has gone through on its head.

* BodyHorror: Alice's bloated, deformed corpse is graphically shown several times in what would definitely be an ethics issue if this were a real documentary. [[spoiler:That absolutely pales in comparison to the climactic scene where said bloated corpse is caught on camera ''stalking Alice before she even dies'']].
* TheChainOfHarm: Downplayed, but June and Alice never understood each other and had a difficult relationship, which is implied to be one of the main reasons why [[spoiler:Alice sticks around as a ghost.]] June references that she herself had a similar relationship with her own mother while expressing her guilt for her and Alice's strained relationship.
* ConvenientPhotograph: Played with multiple times. First the family thinks they can see Alice's ghost in Matthew's photography, so they set up a camera to go off on timer. Then subverted when it turns out that [[spoiler:Matthew planted Alice there.]] Then played straight when June realizes the photographs actually [[spoiler:capture someone breaking into Alice's room.]] Then played straight a final time over the credits, where photographs are shown that reveal [[spoiler:Alice's ghost is still there all along and never left.]]

* MindScrew: A lot of things in this film will leave you with a lot to think about. [[spoiler: What caused those bruises on Matthew? Was it self-harm? What really gave Alice those dreams? Was is just hallucinations? Was it because she may have been pregnant ("the sick feeling")? What created the figure at Lake Mungo? It couldn't have just been hallucinations since she actually filmed it. So was the lake cursed? Did it slowly MindRape her and kill her, or was the whole thing as mundane as "a guilt-wracked and very misunderstood girl slowly loses her sanity and falls victim to an accident (or [[DrivenToSuicide commits suicide]])"?]]

Sixteen-year-old Alice Palmer 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 around their home. Profoundly unsettled, the Palmers seek the help of psychic and parapsychologist, Ray Kemeny. Kemeny discovers that Alice led a double life. A series of clues lead the family to Lake Mungo where Alice's secret past emerges.

->''"Alice kept secrets. She kept the fact she kept secrets a secret. Which does change the way that you see somebody, I suppose, when you realize that they did hide things from you a bit. I think I knew one Alice and maybe her mum knew another, and there was another one again that none of us knew, maybe."''

* JumpScare: There is only one -- [[spoiler:when Alice encounters her own corpse at Lake Mungo, and it suddenly lunges at her.]]

* JumpScare: There is only one, accompanied by a very loud ScareChord. [[spoiler:When Alice sees her own corpse ''walking towards her'' at Lake Mungo.]]
* KarmaHoudini: [[spoiler:As far as we know, Brett and Marisa Toohey were able to sell their house and disappear into obscurity, with a police investigation turning up nothing substantial]].
* MadnessMantra: Combined with a TitleDrop. [[spoiler:Alice's day planner shortly before her death is filled with the words '''LAKE MUNGO''' scribbled over and over again in giant font. This is the catalyst for the climactic revelation in the film]].

* NothingIsScarier: The film predominantly relies on ambiance and haunting still images to convey horror rather than jump scares and gore.
** We never truly [[AmbiguousSituation find out how Alice died.]] You could infer it was from drowning since she was last seen in the lake. But the movie never infers she died from drowning specifically.

* PsychologicalHorror

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Lake_Mungo_Official_Poster_9360.jpg]]''Lake Mungo'' is a 2008 Australian horror film. Sixteen-year-old Alice Palmer 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 around their home. Profoundly unsettled, the Palmers seek the help of psychic and parapsychologist, Ray Kemeny. Kemeny discovers that Alice led a double life. A series of clues lead the family to Lake Mungo where Alice's secret past emerges.

The film was part of the Creator/AfterDarkHorrorfest film festival. An American ForeignRemake was to be expected out sometime in 2011, from the folks behind ''Film/TheRing'' but it appears to be in DevelopmentHell.

* ConvenientPhotograph: Played wit multiple times. First the family thinks they can see Alice's ghost in Matthew's photography, so they set up a camera to go off on timer. Then subverted when it turns out that [[spoiler:Matthew planted Alice there.]] Then played straight when June realizes the photographs actually [[spoiler:capture someone breaking into Alice's room.]] Then played straight a final time over the credits, where photographs are shown that reveal [[spoiler:Alice's ghost is still there all along and never left.]]

* ConvenientPhotograph: Downplayed, subverted, and played straight multiple times. First the family thinks they can see Alice's ghost in Matthew's photography, so they set up a camera to go off on timer. Then subverted when it turns out that [[spoiler:Matthew planted Alice there.]] Then played straight when June realizes the photographs actually [[spoiler:capture someone breaking into Alice's room.]] Then played straight a final time over the credits, where photographs are shown that reveal [[spoiler:Alice's ghost is still there all along and never left.]]

* AdultFear:
** The opening of the film is this in spades: a child drowns on a family trip and is missing for weeks until their body resurfaces -- right before Christmas. And ''then'' her parents, overcome with grief and denial, convince themselves that the body wasn't Alice's to hold onto the small chance that she's secretly alive, only to exhume her body and confirm that it is indeed their daughter.
** One of the creepiest moments in the film is when [[spoiler:it's revealed that the family's neighbor was caught on camera breaking into Alice's room. The subsequent revelation that he and his wife were molesting Alice and breaking in to try and steal the evidence of it is arguably scarier than the actual ghost]].

''Due to the spoiler-heavy nature of the film, a lot of the trope names are themselves spoilers. Proceed with caution.''